ReviewInternational journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology2015
Issues and considerations for using the scalp surface Laplacian in EEG/ERP research: A tutorial review.
Review in International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 82 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
82 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Efficacy of combination scalp acupuncture for post-stroke cognitive impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Pooled it
- The P300 Event-Related Potential Component and Cognitive Impairment in Epilepsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2019Pooled it
- P300 amplitude and latency in autism spectrum disorder: a meta-analysis.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2017Pooled it
- Pooled it
- SSVEP phase synchronies and propagation during repetitive visual stimulation at high frequencies.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Anodal tDCS modulates cortical activity and synchronization in Parkinson's disease depending on motor processing.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2019Trial
- Impaired midfrontal‑motor theta phase synchronization characterizes maladaptive motivational behavior in people with obsessive‑compulsive disorder.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Diffusion Inverse Filtering: Enhancing Functional Connectivity-Based Pattern Recognition by Counteracting Spatial Smoothing.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Are neural and behavioural measures of cognitive control associated with adaptive and maladaptive risk-taking in adolescence and young adulthood?Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Neural mechanisms of uncertain decision-making in anxious adolescents: an EEG study based on the balloon analogue risk task.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Characterizing the Heartbeat-Evoked Potential: A Two-Component Model of Cardiac Signal Processing?Psychophysiology · 2025Article
- Fresh Pecorino Cheese Produced by Ewes Fed Silage with Prickly Pear By-Products: VOC, Chemical, and Sensory Characteristics Detected with a Neuro-Sensory Approach Combining EEG and TDS.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Looking into Working Memory to Verify Potential Search Targets.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Spatial but not temporal orienting of attention enhances the temporal acuity of human peripheral vision.Communications psychology · 2025Article
- Genetic modulation of brain dynamics in neurodevelopmental disorders: the impact of copy number variations on resting-state EEG.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- The effect of temporal predictability on sensory gating: Cortical responses inform perception.Psychophysiology · 2024Article
- Altered Cortical Activity during a Finger Tap in People with Stroke.Brain topography · 2024Article
- Get ready! High urgency reduces beta band cortico-muscular coherence during motor preparation.Neuroimage. Reports · 2024Article
- Exploring the neural underpinnings of chord prediction uncertainty: an electroencephalography (EEG) study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Novel methodology for detection and prediction of mild cognitive impairment using resting-state EEG.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2024Article
22 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Despite the recognition that the surface Laplacian may counteract adverse effects of volume conduction and recording reference for surface potential data, electrophysiology as a discipline has been reluctant to embrace this approach for data analysis. The reasons for such hesitation are manifold but often involve unfamiliarity with the nature of the underlying transformation, as well as intimidation by a perceived mathematical complexity, and concerns of signal loss, dense electrode array requirements, or susceptibility to noise. We revisit the pitfalls arising from volume conduction and the mandated arbitrary choice of EEG reference, describe the basic principle of the surface Laplacian transform in an intuitive fashion, and exemplify the differences between common reference schemes (nose, linked mastoids, average) and the surface Laplacian for frequently-measured EEG spectra (theta, alpha) and standard event-related potential (ERP) components, such as N1 or P3. We specifically review common reservations against the universal use of the surface Laplacian, which can be effectively addressed by employing spherical spline interpolations with an appropriate selection of the spline flexibility parameter and regularization constant. We argue from a pragmatic perspective that not only are these reservations unfounded but that the continued predominant use of surface potentials poses a considerable impediment on the progress of EEG and ERP research.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.