Categorisation of Mobile EEG: A Researcher’s Perspective

Researchers are increasingly attempting to undertake electroencephalography (EEG) recordings in novel environments and contexts outside of the traditional static laboratory setting. The term “mobile EEG,” although commonly used to describe many of these undertakings, is ambiguous, since it attempts to encompass a wide range of EEG device mobility, participant mobility, and system specifications used across investigations. To provide quantitative parameters for “mobile EEG,” we developed a Categorisation of Mobile EEG (CoME) scheme based upon scoring of device mobility (D, from 0, off-body, to 5, head-mounted with no additional equipment), participant mobility (P, from 0, static, to 5, unconstrained running), system specification (S, from 4, lowest, to 20, highest), and number of channels (C) used. The CoME scheme was applied to twenty-nine published mobile EEG studies. Device mobility scores ranged from 0D to 4D, participant mobility scores from 0P to 4P, and system specification scores from 6S to 17S. The format of the scores for the four parameters is given, for example, as (2D, 4P, 17S, 32C) and readily enables comparisons across studies. Our CoME scheme enables researchers to quantify the degree of device mobility, participant mobility, and system specification used in their “mobile EEG” investigations in a standardised way.