Localization of intra-cerebral sources of electrical activity via linearly constrained minimum variance spatial filtering

Measurements of electrical field potentials at the scalp are used to localize sources of electrical activity within the brain. Neuronal sources are modeled as current dipoles. The medum (brain, skull scalp) is linear so that the potential at the scalp is the superposition of the potentials from many active neurons. These properties are used to develop a mathematical model relating neural activity to the spatial distribution of the scalp potential. Linearly constrained minimum variance spatial filters are based on this model to estimate power as a function of position within the brain. Simulations illustrate the effectiveness of this approach for localizing an unknown number of sources.<>