Advanced Boundary Electrode Modeling for tES and Parallel tES/EEG

IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2018 Jan;26(1):37-44. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2017.2748930. Epub 2017 Sep 28.

Abstract

This paper explores advanced electrode modeling in the context of separate and parallel transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) and electroencephalography (EEG) measurements. We focus on boundary condition-based approaches that do not necessitate adding auxiliary elements, e.g., sponges, to the computational domain. In particular, we investigate the complete electrode model (CEM) which incorporates a detailed description of the skin-electrode interface including its contact surface, impedance, and normal current distribution. The CEM can be applied for both tES and EEG electrodes which are advantageous when a parallel system is used. In comparison to the CEM, we test two important reduced approaches: the gap model (GAP) and the point electrode model (PEM). We aim to find out the differences of these approaches for a realistic numerical setting based on the stimulation of the auditory cortex. The results obtained suggest, among other things, that GAP and GAP/PEM are sufficiently accurate for the practical application of tES and parallel tES/EEG, respectively. Differences between CEM and GAP were observed mainly in the skin compartment, where only CEM explains the heating effects characteristic to tES.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Algorithms
  • Cerebral Cortex / anatomy & histology
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology
  • Electrodes*
  • Electroencephalography / methods*
  • Finite Element Analysis
  • Head
  • Healthy Volunteers
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Models, Neurological
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Skin
  • Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation / methods*