Robust power spectral estimation for EEG data

•We present a method for power spectral estimation based on robust statistics.•Compared to standard methods, the new approach is resistant to transient artifacts.•Confidence intervals estimated in a Bayesian fashion have appropriate coverage.•The approach is computationally efficient.•Software is provided in the form of a MATLAB toolbox.

BackgroundTypical electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings often contain substantial artifact. These artifacts, often large and intermittent, can interfere with quantification of the EEG via its power spectrum. To reduce the impact of artifact, EEG records are typically cleaned by a preprocessing stage that removes individual segments or components of the recording. However, such preprocessing can introduce bias, discard available signal, and be labor-intensive. With this motivation, we present a method that uses robust statistics to reduce dependence on preprocessing by minimizing the effect of large intermittent outliers on the spectral estimates.New methodUsing the multitaper method (Thomson, 1982) as a starting point, we replaced the final step of the standard power spectrum calculation with a quantile-based estimator, and the Jackknife approach to confidence intervals with a Bayesian approach. The method is implemented in provided MATLAB modules, which extend the widely used Chronux toolbox.ResultsUsing both simulated and human data, we show that in the presence of large intermittent outliers, the robust method produces improved estimates of the power spectrum, and that the Bayesian confidence intervals yield close-to-veridical coverage factors.Comparison to existing methodThe robust method, as compared to the standard method, is less affected by artifact: inclusion of outliers produces fewer changes in the shape of the power spectrum as well as in the coverage factor.ConclusionIn the presence of large intermittent outliers, the robust method can reduce dependence on data preprocessing as compared to standard methods of spectral estimation.