Ecological Validity of the N170 – a mobile EEG study

14.06.2019, 10:15-11:15  –  Campus Golm, Haus 28, Raum 0.108
SFB-Kolloquium

Peter König (Universität Osnabrück)

Are event related potentials, well investigated under laboratory conditions, a signature of cortical processing during natural behavior?
We explore this question with a fully mobile recording setup. It integrates and synchronizes an EEG system, a mobile eye tracker with pupil- and world-cameras, as well as a step-sensor. These data are compared to recordings with more restricted behavior as well as classic fully controlled laboratory conditions. With a focus on the N170 ERP we streamline the data analysis using deep neural networks to categorize elements like faces in the participant’s surrounding.
We find that widely reported effects are not as robust as they seemed. Furthermore, under ecological conditions the image content at not only the present, but also the previous fixation influence the cortical potentials. Finally we present data on the step-wise bridge the gap between lab and real world recordings.

Invited by Ralf Engbert