High-density EEG electrode placement
Some time ago we wrote an article on electrode placement for high-resolution EEG measurement (referred to as the 5% article). After its apearance I have noticed that there is a demand for a concise and methodological overview of electrode placement systems. With this page I want to share some of my knowledge on this subject. This page contains non-technical comments on the different standards for electrode placement. (More …)
Maria Laura, 
Alexei A. Morozov, 
Shen-Mou Hsu and 7 others are discussing.
Irfan 13:57 on November 4, 2006 Permalink
Dear Sir
I have EEG data in 10-20 system but i have no idea about elctrode positions. Can you please help me how to find electrode positions for
available data without going into experiment again.
Robert 10:37 on November 6, 2006 Permalink
You can download template electrode positions and the electrode labels from this page. They are represented in Carthesian coordinates, and are stored in a plain ascii text file. Please search the page above for “download”.
Michael 00:54 on November 10, 2006 Permalink
Good article! Well presented information! However, I would not agree that the naming conventions are intuitive (not your problem). Anterior and Central are not lobes. Either lobe name or position names should be used, not both. And what would be wrong with using L or R for right or left. And where does the TP section start and the T section end? And what does the 10 mean in front of 10-20 and 10-5?
Robert 11:50 on November 27, 2006 Permalink
Thatns for your comment. Let me comment on some of them.
The naming indeed is not really intuitive, partially because the lobes of the brain are not apparent on the outside of the head, but partially also because there are just not enough lobes to give a sufficiently dense naming scheme. The mixture between lobes and location (central, anteroir, frontal) is to add more structure in the names. The problem with logical names is mainly over the frontal lobe.
However, I am more concerned with people overinterpreting the “lobe” part in the electrode name: there is a large inter-individual variation, and also electrode caps are not allways accurately designed or applied. So detailled knowledge of the relation between electrode and underlying brain area should not be assumed from the electrode name alone.
Here are some answers to your questions:
The “TP” stands for temporo-parietal.
The “T” section is the lower part of the “C” section. Below the horizontal line through C5, the “C’ is replaced in all labels by “T”.
The initial “10″ stands for the 10% distances along the nasion-inion and the LPA/RPA line at which the first electrodes are placed (Fpz, Oz, T7/3, T8/4). Those electrodes are very important, since they determine the height of the lowest horizontal contour, which in turn determines the position of the other contours.
Felipe 18:54 on December 5, 2006 Permalink
Dear sir,
I have to construct a head surface in computer and, after, approach the 10-10 standard model, that is for spherical models, to this surface. And I read here that you have made a computation of all the electrode locations on a reallistical head surface, based on the distances along the (triangulated) surface of the head. Could you tell me how you did that and what softwares you have used?
Thank you for the attention,
Felipe
Robert 00:32 on December 6, 2006 Permalink
Dear Felipe,
I have used my own Matlab code for that, that matlab code is not available online. But since you write that need the 10-10 positions for a spherical model of the head, you can download the positions from http://oase.uci.kun.nl/~roberto/electrode/sphere_1005.txt (“sphere2″, see in the article above). Alternatively, you could look into the ELECTRODEREALIGN function in the FieldTrip toolbox.
best regards,
Robert
tariq 15:34 on December 18, 2006 Permalink
hi robert,
if you pls,
i need more information about eeg electrodes; every thing about..
urgently..
thanks
Robert 17:14 on December 18, 2006 Permalink
I suggest that you read the available literature and contact the companies that supply EEG electrodes and electrode caps. The companies are listed at the end of the website article.
Robert
Alex Granados 08:20 on March 10, 2007 Permalink
Dear Dr. I’m so interested about the Jasper 1958 and Chatrian 1985 publications, can you help me to find this? (pdf or copy)
Thanks,
Alex Granados
Neurology Resident
National University Of Colombia
Robert 16:53 on March 11, 2007 Permalink
Dear Alex
Please contact me through email (see contact information) and I will send you the pdf’s as attachement.
Robert
Uzair Nazir Tanoli 15:20 on March 18, 2007 Permalink
Hi
I m a student of computer engg. I am doing my final year project in brain computer intrface where i m using Mu rhythm for my research project and i m trying to control 2d cursor. the question is about feature extraction technique. which technique is best and give accurate results. Looking to hear from u asap.
Regards
Robert 18:05 on March 18, 2007 Permalink
Dear Uzair
I suggest that you look in peer-reviewed scientific literature for an overview of available methods for feature extraction for BCI. A good starting point is http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.
Robert
Shen-Mou Hsu 05:54 on May 21, 2007 Permalink
Many thanks for this article. Very informative.
I was wondering if you could help me to clarify one point.
I am studying LRP component right now and need to locate C3′ and C4′. I f I understand correctly, C3′=CP3 and C4′=CP4, is that right.
I am indebted to your kindness in this matter.
Alexei A. Morozov 20:27 on March 25, 2010 Permalink
Thank you very much! Now I know why there are no T3, T4, T5, and T6 electrodes in the EEGLAB CED files at the end…
:):)
Alexei
Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics RAS
Maria Laura 15:46 on May 2, 2010 Permalink
Great page, thanks for this overview.