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journal homepage: www.intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/cmpb

An EEGLAB plugin to analyze individual EEG alpha

rhythms using the “channel reactivity-based
method”

A. Goljahani a , P. Bisiacchi b , G. Sparacino a,∗

a Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, via Gradenigo 6/B, 35131 Padova, Italy
b Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A recent paper [1] proposed a new technique, termed the channel reactivity-based method
Received 17 August 2012 (CRB), for characterizing EEG alpha rhythms using individual (IAFs) and channel (CAFs) alpha
Received in revised form frequencies. These frequencies were obtained by identifying the frequencies at which the
16 December 2013 power of the alpha rhythms decreases. In the present study, we present a graphical interac-
Accepted 18 December 2013 tive toolbox that can be plugged into the popular open source environment EEGLAB, making
it easy to use CRB. In particular, we illustrate the major functionalities of the software and
Keywords: discuss the advantages of this toolbox for common EEG investigations. The CRB analysis
CRB analysis plugin plugin, along with extended documentation and the sample dataset utilized in this study,
Individual alpha frequency (IAF) is freely available on the web at http://bio.dei.unipd.it/crb/.
Channel alpha frequency (CAF) © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Reactivity index
Alpha de-synchronization
Event-related de-synchronization

in task demand will have opposite effects on the power of

1. Introduction
Individual alpha frequency (IAF) is one of the most commonly
utilized tools to correlate the variability of EEG rhythms among
subjects to anatomic, genetic, and behavioral/cognitive traits
and to individually tune conventional theta and alpha bands
(e.g., see [2–8], and the references quoted therein). Recently,
the channel reactivity-based method (CRB) [1] was proposed
to measure IAFs by identifying the EEG power variations that
are specific to each subject. The method relies on the evi-
dence that, in most cases, a suitable stimulus or an increase
the alpha and theta band rhythms of an EEG. The power of
the EEG rhythms in the theta band (conventional range of (4,
7) Hz) increases (synchronization), whereas the power of the
rhythms in the alpha band (conventional range of (8, 13) Hz)
decreases (de-synchronization) (e.g., see [9–11]). In particular,
for each scalp position, the CRB identifies the frequency inter-
val at which the alpha power decreases; then, using these
intervals, the CRB computes several channel alpha frequen-
cies (CAFs) and one IAF for each dataset.
Our goal was to facilitate the use of CRB in neuroscien-
tific/clinical investigations, which may benefit from adaptively

∗
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0498277741; fax: +39 0498277699.
E-mail addresses: anahita.goljahani@dei.unipd.it (A. Goljahani), patrizia.bisiacchi@unipd.it (P. Bisiacchi),
gianni@dei.unipd.it (G. Sparacino).
URL: http://www.dei.unipd.it/∼gianni (G. Sparacino).
0169-2607/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmpb.2013.12.010
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identifying the alpha frequency intervals instead of using the
conventional (8, 13) Hz band. Therefore, in this manuscript
we present an interactive graphical software toolbox, the CRB
analysis plugin; this set of MATLAB® (The Mathworks Inc.)
routines was designed to be plugged into the popular open
source platform EEGLAB [12].
The manuscript is organized as follows. First, in Section 2,
a brief review of CRB is given. Next, in Section 3, the func-
tionalities of the CRB analysis plugin (e.g., selecting data for
analysis, applying the method, and inspecting the results) are
described and then illustrated using a sample EEG dataset.
Lastly, in Section 4, possible applications of the software in
common neuroscientific investigations are discussed.
2. Review of the CRB method
CRB compares the EEG data of a test state to that of a reference
state by means of a power spectral density (PSD) approach
[13,14]; any alpha de-synchronization that may occur when
the subject changes from one state to another is identified.
Fig. 1(a) illustrates the CRB for a sample EEG recorded from
N scalp locations. First, for each channel, the CRB computes
the power spectral densities relative to the reference and
test states (denoted as R(f) and T(f), respectively). Then, CRB
performs the three steps that are summarized below and
described in detail by Goljahani et al. [1].
Step 1. For each channel, the alpha de-synchronization
interval f = (f1 ,f2 ) is identified by applying a “scanning and
expansion” procedure to the corresponding R(f) and T(f). Then,
the intensity of the alpha de-synchronization in (f1 ,f2 ) is quan-
tified using the reactivity index  (␮V2 /Hz)
 f2
f1
(R(f ) − T(f ))df
=
(f2 − f1 )
which measures the average decrease in power from the ref-
erence state to the test state for each frequency unit in (f1 ,f2 ).
The “scanning and expansion” procedure operates as fol-
lows. During the scanning phase (illustrated in Fig. 1(b) for
a representative channel), an initial frequency interval (fa ,fb )
is found within the alpha de-synchronization interval of the
channel. To do so, the frequency axis is divided into a series of
overlapping frequency intervals, which are obtained by shif-
ting a window whose size and shift are determined by the CRB
parameters wsize and wshift . For all intervals, the correspond-
ing de-synchronization intensities ’s are computed using Eq.
(1). The intensities relative to the intervals above the conven-
tional (8, 13) Hz band are then multiplied by a weight that
decreases as the distance between the frequency interval and
the conventional (8, 13) Hz band increases. Lastly, the interval
(fa ,fb ) is identified by selecting the interval with the maximum
weighted de-synchronization intensity. The rate at which the
weights decrease with the distance is governed by a parame-
ter . In the case of Fig. 1(b), setting wsize = 3 Hz, wshift = 0.5 Hz,
and  = 0.7 results in an (fa ,fb ) that is equal to the (8, 11) Hz
range. In the expansion phase, (fa ,fb ) is expanded to encom-
pass all of the frequencies involved in the channel’s alpha
activity (e.g., the interval of (7.5, 13) Hz in Fig. 1(b)). As illus-
trated in Fig. 1(c), (fa ,fb ) is expanded leftward until R(f) and
T(f) intersect and rightward until R(f) and T(f) are close enough
to consider the alpha modulation activity to be finished. The
required closeness is regulated by a parameter ε. As ε becomes
increasingly less than 1, R(f) and T(f) must become closer for
the alpha interval to be considered finished. In the example
of Fig. 1(c), ε = 0.5, and the initial interval (8, 11) Hz is correctly
expanded to the interval of (7.5, 13) Hz
Step 2. Step 2 selects the channels with the strongest alpha
de-synchronizations relative to the subject’s alpha activity.
A reference maximum de-synchronization intensity max is
obtained by computing the pth percentile of the set of  val-
ues computed in Step 1. The CRB parameter p (e.g., 80% or
90%) regulates the sensitivity of the subject’s max to isolated
high  values. Channels are then selected if their  is suffi-
ciently close to max . Specifically, the minimum  required for
a channel to be selected is given by sub = r·max , where r is the
CRB parameter that determines the closeness of the threshold
sub to max . Before computing max , channels can be discarded
independent of the alpha activity of the subject by setting the
CRB parameter min to a value greater than 0. In this case, the
channels with  values smaller than min do not affect the
determination of max through the percentile operator.
Step 3. For all of the selected channels, CAFs are computed
as
 f2
f1
R(f )fdf
f˛ =  f2 , (2)
f1
R(f )df
where (f1 ,f2 ) are the channel de-synchronization intervals
(1)
identified in Step 1. Eq. (2) corresponds to the weighted aver-
age of the frequencies in (f1 ,f2 ), with weights proportional to
the power of those frequencies in the reference state. Lastly,
the IAF is computed as the median of the CAFs.
The reader is referred to [1] for more details, particularly
about the meaning of the seven CRB parameters (i.e., wsize ,
wshift , , and ε in Step 1 and p, r, and min in Step 2) and for
general guidelines for setting these parameters.
Goljahani et al. [1] demonstrated that the parameterized
procedures of the CRB successfully adapted to the quite dif-
ferent individual characteristics of the EEG rhythms of the 19
studied subjects, even in cases without unique clear peaks in
the reference PSD. Moreover, the CRB proved to be effective
both in flexibly identifying the frequency intervals at which
the alpha rhythms actually became de-synchronized and in
selecting the channels with the largest modulations.
Remark. Although CRB was designed for use with EEG data,
CRB may be applied to any signal that shows suitable power
variation patterns, including independent components (ICs)
that are identified by ICA. In the latter case, the ith channel in
Fig. 1(a) corresponds to the ith IC, and the acronym CAF may
be read as component (instead of channel) alpha frequency.
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Fig. 1 – Panel (a): block diagram illustrating the three steps of the CRB method. For each channel i, R(f) and T(f) are the resting
and test spectra, respectively. f = (f1 ,f2 ), where f1 and f2 are the boundaries of the alpha modulation interval.  is the
reactivity index relative to f. L is the set of channels selected by CRB, and f̂˛ is the estimated IAF. Panels (b) and (c): “scanning
and expansion” procedure illustrated utilizing representative reference (red) and test (blue) EEG spectra. In panel (b), the
sliding windows are represented by rectangles superimposed to the spectra, and the frequency interval selected by the
scanning procedure is highlighted by the thick rectangle. The thin red rectangle is drawn around the frequency interval that
would have been selected in the case of no regularization mechanism. In panel (c), the initial and expanded intervals are
highlighted in dark and light gray, respectively. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader
is referred to the web version of this article.)
Adapted from Figs. 2, B.1, and B.3 of [1].
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3. Description of the CRB analysis plugin
3.1. Availability and overview
The CRB analysis plugin for EEGLAB, along with some tech-
nical documentation and the representative dataset used
below, is freely available at http://bio.dei.unipd.it/crb/. EEGLAB
(http://sccn.ucsd.edu/eeglab/) is a popular open source envi-
ronment for performing several EEG signal analyses. One of
the main strengths of EEGLAB is the possibility to rapidly
integrate new analysis techniques and make them available
to the community using straightforward plugins. Examples
of the plugins that have been released include plugins
that perform the following tasks: automatically [15] and
semi-automatically [16] detecting common EEG artifacts, sta-
tistically analyzing scalp evoked responses by accounting for
single trial variability [17], studying source information flows,
building realistic electrical head models from available data
and building online brain–computer interface (BCI) models
[18].
The most straightforward application of the CRB analysis
plugin is analysis of the alpha rhythm de-synchronization
in response to an event (e.g., the movement of a finger or
a cognitive event). For this application, the reference and
test states are the time intervals preceding and following the
event, respectively. Typically, an EEG is continuously recorded
from several electrodes that are placed on the entire scalp or
a functionally relevant part of the scalp during an experiment
in which the event is repeated several times. Subsequently,
the recordings are imported into EEGLAB. After possible pre-
processing and ICs computation, the data are epoched with
respect to the investigated event (i.e., the data are divided into
slices that surround the repetitions of the event). Once the
epoched dataset is available, the CRB analysis can be launched
by clicking on Analyze alpha frequencies by CRB from the EEGLAB
Tools menu. The first configuration window is displayed and
allows interactive definitions of the following: the data to
be analyzed (i.e., the input of the algorithm); the reference
and test time intervals with respect to the event onset; sett-
ings for the computation of the reference and test PSDs; and
the values of the seven CRB parameters. Default values are
provided for all settings, except for reference and test time
intervals; the user must supply the desired values of these
intervals before running the analysis. Besides IAF, the follow-
ing results are produced by the toolbox for all channels for
which an alpha activity is detected: de-synchronization fre-
quency intervals, intensity of de-synchronizations, CAFs, and
reference and test alpha powers. Moreover, the indexes of
the channels selected by CRB in Step 2 (i.e., the indexes of
the channels showing the strongest de-synchronizations) are
returned as well. The numerical results are accompanied by
graphical representations of the results. For each channel, the
corresponding CAF and de-synchronization interval are drawn
along with the reference and test PSDs. After inspecting the
numerical or graphical results, the user can easily refine the
settings before re-launching the analysis. Once the user is sat-
isfied with his/her settings, the results can finally be saved
(e.g., .txt or .mat files) and easily imported into specialized
statistical software to analyze the results from different
groups or experimental events.
3.2. Demonstrative run
3.2.1. Sample dataset
The sample dataset is a representative EEG dataset taken from
[1]. The EEG was continuously recorded from 29 Ag/AgCl elec-
trodes mounted according to the international 10/20 system
(Fpz used as a ground, reference given by the link of the right
and left mastoid electrodes) during a letter-matching task. For
details about the dataset, the reader is referred to [1]. Horizon-
tal and vertical electrooculograms (EOGs) were also measured
in parallel. The EEG and EOGs were digitalized at a frequency of
512 Hz and a conversion resolution of 0.19 ␮V/digit. Offline, the
signals were digitally filtered between 0.4 and 100 Hz, resam-
pled at 256 Hz, epoched with respect to the stimulus onset (i.e.,
the presentation of a five-letter string), and, lastly, pruned for
artifacts using the infomax-based ICA [19] that is implemented
in EEGLAB [20].
3.2.2. Definition of initial settings
When the CRB analysis toolbox is launched, the window shown
in Fig. 2 opens. The top panel of the window (A in the fig-
ure) presents some information about the dataset (e.g., the
epochs’ time reference with respect to the event onset and
whether channel locations or ICs are available). The data that
will be analyzed, i.e., the input of Fig. 1(a), are selected in the
panel labeled B in the figure. By default, all EEG channels in the
dataset are selected, but the user can focus on a specific scalp
area by selecting the desired channels based on their location.
Instead of EEG data, IC activations (i.e., time courses of ICs)
may be analyzed as well, and a subset of ICs can be selected
(e.g., specific projection maps), if necessary. Reference and test
intervals are defined in the left side of the panel labeled C in
the figure. As soon as the intervals are defined, the default val-
ues for estimating the reference and test PSDs appear on the
right side of the same panel. For each channel, the reference
and test PSDs are computed by averaging the single-trial PSDs
over all epochs. The settings in the right side of panel C deter-
mine how the reference and test PSDs are estimated for each
epoch before averaging. Specifically, for each epoch, the PSDs
are estimated using Welch’s method, and the values of win-
dows length (ms) and overlap (%) in the panel determine how the
reference and test intervals are split into consecutive overlap-
ping windows (e.g., see [21] for a classic textbook overview of
the PSD estimation topic). Here, it is worthwhile to recall that
as the windows become shorter, the estimated PSDs become
smoother, and details of the true PSDs are lost. The reader can
easily assess how the PSDs estimates vary for several values of
windows length by previewing the spectra directly from panel
C. A practical rule is that the details finer than the reciprocal of
the window length (measured in seconds) cannot be resolved
(e.g., 1 Hz for the settings of Fig. 2). As shown in the figure,
by default, the software maximizes the resolution by setting
the reference and test windows lengths equal to the duration
of the reference and test time intervals, respectively; thus, the
single-trial PSDs are estimated using a unique window. This
setting is recommended when approximately tens of epochs
are available because the averaging of single-trial PSDs over all
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Fig. 2 – Screenshot of the GUI for the initial settings of the CRB analysis toolbox. The GUI contains the initial settings needed
to run the CRB analysis on the sample dataset. Details about the components of the GUI can be found in Section 3.2.2. For
ease of reading, labels A–E were added to the screenshot.

epochs significantly reduces their high single-trial variance.
When fewer epochs are available, it may be worthwhile to
reduce the windows length and increase the overlap values to
reduce the variance of the single-trial PSDs at the expense of
a loss in resolution. Accordingly with Welch’s method, data in
each window are multiplied by a tapering function. The role
of the function is to counteract the masking of the lower level
components by the sidelobes of the close higher level compo-
nents due to leakage. The default setting of the toolbox is the
Hanning window, but options for the Hamming window or no
tapering [21] are also available. Panel D of Fig. 2 defines the
seven parameters of the CRB algorithm. Although default val-
ues are assigned to the parameters, the user can easily modify
these values (several examples that illustrate their role can
be found in Section 5 of the online technical documentation).
Note that panel D provides two additional options for comput-
ing CAFs in addition to the one defined by Eq. (2). Specifically,
CAFs can be computed by utilizing T(f) or |R(f) − T(f)| instead of
the R(f) from Eq. (2). In the first case, each CAF reflects the fre-
quencies of the de-synchronized alpha-rhythms with highest
powers during the test condition. In contrast, in the second
case, each CAF reflects the frequencies of the alpha-rhythms
with the largest decrease in power between the reference and
state intervals.
Once all initial settings have been defined, pressing the run
CRB analysis and show results button computes the results. The
results are then displayed, as illustrated in the next section.
3.2.3. Inspection of the results
The results of the CRB analysis are displayed both numerically,
as in Fig. 3, and graphically, as in Fig. 4.
In addition to the CAFs, s, and boundaries of the de-
synchronization intervals (f1 ,f2 ), the numerical results in Fig. 3
include a selection flag that is set to 1 for the channels
that were selected during Step 2 of the algorithm. The CAFs
of the selected channels are those that generate the IAF
reported at the bottom of the window. Analogously, the aver-
age modulation interval reported under the IAF is obtained by
averaging the boundaries of the de-synchronization intervals
of the selected channels. The values of the reference, PR , and
test, PT , alpha powers (␮V2 ) in (f1 ,f2 ) are also included in the
table of Fig. 3, along with their relative percentage variation
(PT − PR )/PR × 100 [3]. NaN values are returned for the chan-
nels for which the algorithm was not able to detect any alpha
de-synchronization. After they are inspected, the results can
either be saved by pressing save results or recomputed after
changing the values of the CRB parameters in the panel on
the right side of the window.
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Fig. 3 – Screenshot of the GUI for numerical values inspection that results from the CRB analysis of the sample dataset. The
GUI contains a table that reports the following information for each channel: from the left, the selection status, the values of
CAF and , the boundaries (f1 and f2 ) of the modulation interval, reference and test powers in the modulation interval, and
their relative power variation percentage. The value of the IAF is reported in text at the bottom of the GUI. Interactive tools
for refining the initial settings, plotting the spectra of the channels and saving the results are available on the right side of
the GUI.

The de-synchronization intervals, CAFs, selection flags,
and IAF are also graphically illustrated in the window shown in
Fig. 4. For each channel, the reference (red line) and test (blue
line) PSDs are plotted together, and a gray rectangle is drawn
around the de-synchronization interval that was identified by
the CRB. Moreover, a thin vertical line is drawn along the CAF,
and a check mark in the right upper corner of a plot represents
the value of the selection flag for the channel. Lastly, for all
channels, a thick vertical line is drawn at the IAF. The graphical
representation of the results allows immediate identification
of the most active scalp regions and frequency intervals of
the alpha activity. The graphical representation of the results
may also reveal the need to refine some of the parameters (e.g.,
decrease  due to the presence of a strong de-synchronization
in the beta range that the algorithm mistakes for an alpha
de-synchronization). If this is the case, the value of  can be
changed in the window that presents the numerical results,
and the analysis may be re-launched with the new parame-
ter value. The values of local IAF and local average modulation
interval at the bottom of the window in Fig. 4 are only different
from those reported at the bottom of the window in Fig. 3 if a
subset of all channels is plotted. In this case, the local IAF and
local average modulation interval are computed using the CAFs
and the de-synchronization intervals of the selected channels
among those plotted.
3.3. Additional interactive tools
During the inspection of results, the user can easily change
the boundaries of (f1 ,f2 ) utilized to compute CAFs, reactiv-
ity indexes and powers. For instance, the user may need
to slightly refine the de-synchronization intervals that were
identified by the CRB or may be interested in comparing CRB
results with those obtained by computing CAFs relative to the
conventional (8, 13) Hz band. New boundaries can be defined
by typing their values in the table of numerical results or by
highlighting the desired intervals with the mouse directly on
the plots of Fig. 4. Once the new intervals have been defined,
results in the table of Fig. 3 can be updated by pressing the
recompute with new table values button in the first case and
the synchronize with table data button in the second case. Note
that the power modulations in any other band (e.g., the con-
ventional (4, 7) Hz theta band) can also be assessed from the
windows in Figs. 3 and 4; this use goes beyond the aim of
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Fig. 4 – Screenshot of the GUI for spectra plots inspection that results from the CRB analysis of the sample dataset. Each plot in
the GUI depicts the reference PSD (red line) superimposed to the test PSD (blue line) for the channel in the plot title. In all
plots, a thick vertical black line is drawn at the subject’s IAF, which is reported in text at the bottom of the GUI. For all
streams with a positive  value, the responsiveness regions are shaded in gray, and a thin vertical black line is drawn along
the relative CAF. The red titles correspond to selected channels. The values of local IAF and the average modulation interval
are displayed at the bottom of the GUI. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the web version of this article.)

analyzing alpha rhythms. The user is also free to include

or discard channels from the computation of the IAF
(e.g., to focus on a specific region). Channels can be
included/discarded by performing one of the following: set-
ting the selection flag to 1 relative to the desired channels
in the table of numerical results and pressing the recom-
pute with new table values button; checking/unchecking the
plots in Fig. 4 and pressing the synchronize with table data
button.
Remark. The CRB analysis can also be run from the MATLAB
command line without any graphical support (e.g., to perform
batch analyses or to integrate functions in custom scripts;
details can be found in the online technical documentation).
4. Discussion and conclusions
This study describes an open source MATLAB software based
on the CRB algorithm proposed by Goljahani et al. [1]; this
software can be used as an EEGLAB plugin. This plugin esti-
mates the CAFs and IAF by identifying the frequency intervals
at which the alpha rhythms actually de-synchronize for the
subject and the investigated task. The analysis can be per-
formed on either EEG scalp data or ICs. Although command
line options are available, the toolbox provides user-friendly
interactive windows to easily define the initial settings and to
display and save the results. The results are displayed both
numerically and graphically to facilitate tuning of the CRB
parameters and generation of insights about the phenomenon
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under investigation. Choosing the same setting values allows
the results to be reproduced in various laboratories. Moreover,
additional interactive tools allow the user to easily investigate
the frequencies and channel subsets of his/her interest.
Depending on the initial settings and the outcomes on
which the user chooses to focus on, the toolbox can support
diverse investigations. For instance, in addition to studying
IAFs relative to the entire scalp or a scalp sub-region (e.g., [22]),
the user may focus on CAFs and investigate how their vari-
ability correlates with cognitive performance or pathological
conditions. In addition, users can focus on selection flags and
reactivity indexes to determine, e.g., the scalp region at which
the power is mostly modulated. Lastly, another possible prac-
tical application may involve the determination of best scalp
locations or frequency intervals for driving brain–computer
interfaces (BCIs) based on EEG power modulations (e.g.,
[23,24]). In conclusion, the CRB analysis plugin is aimed at sup-
porting investigations into the power-based modulation of EEG
alpha rhythms. To do so, the toolbox combines specific analy-
sis procedures with visualization tools and thus facilitates the
generation of insights about the investigated phenomenon.
The software is open source; thus, further developments can
easily be included in the toolbox and eventually shared, e.g., to
improve its functionalities or to complement frequency analy-
sis with time-domain approaches such as single-trial analysis
[25].
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for the com-
ments and criticisms that helped to greatly improve the
quality of the final manuscript. The study was partially
supported by the University of Padova “Quantitative under-
standing of the human brain functioning through advanced
EEG and NIRS signal processing” grant. The authors are grate-
ful to Prof. P. Amodio and Dr. S. Schiff (Department of Clinical
and Experimental Medicine, University of Padova, Italy), who
also collected the data previously published in [1], and to Dr.
C. D’Avanzo for their earlier contributions to the research that
ultimately led to the development of the software presented
in this study. Part of this work was performed under the aegis
of CIRMANMEC, University of Padova.
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