Introduction

Brainstorm is a free Matlab application dedicated to Magnetoencephalography(MEG) and Electroencephalography(EEG) data visualization, processing and cortical source estimation.
Our intention is to make a comprehensive set of tools available to the scientific community involved in MEG/EEG experimental research.
For physicians and researchers, the interest of this software package resides in its rich and intuitive graphic interface, which does not require any programming knowledge.

What you can do with Brainstorm

• Import MEG / EEG recordings from the most popular file formats (?list here)

• Pre-processing:
  • Epoching
  • Averaging
  • Frequency filtering
  • Resampling
  • Noise covariance estimation
  • Manual definition of bad channels and bad epochs
• Data visualization:
  • Various time series displays
  • Data mapping on flat surfaces or the head envelope
  • Generate slides and animations
  • Channel selection, and manipulation of clusters of electrodes
  • 3D surface rendering
• MRI visualization and coregistration:
  • Analysis on individual anatomy or MNI / Colin27 brain.

  • Import MRI scans, from most of the existing file formats (?list here)

  • Co-registration with the MEG/EEG coordinate system
  • Volume rendering (several display modes)
  • Deformation of the MNI template to fit an set of digitized head points
• Database:
  • Classification of recordings with three levels of definition (protocol, subject, condition/event)
  • Quick access to all the data in a study
  • Quick comparison between subjects or conditions
  • Graphical batching tools (apply a same process to many files in a few clicks)
• Forward modeling:
  • Single sphere method
  • Overlapping spheres method
• Inverse modeling:
  • Minimum-norm imaging of the cortical current density
  • dSPM
  • sLORETA
• Source display and analysis:
  • Surface rendering of the estimated sources
  • Reprojection of the sources in the MRI volume
  • Definition of cortical regions of interest (scouts)
  • Reprojection of estimated sources on a surface with a higher or lower definition
• Group analysis:
  • Registration of individual brains on the MNI "Colin27" brain
  • Statistical analysis (t-tests, permutations)
• Documentation and support:
  • Easy and automatic updates of the software
  • Detailed step by step tutorials for most of the common features
  • Active user forum

What you cannot do with Brainstorm

• Intensive pre-processing of MEG/EEG recordings (noise cancelling, artifact correction/rejection, etc.):
  => use your constructor's software, or other software solutions (MNE, EEGLab, FieldTrip, etc.). ?See here.

• MRI segmentation:
  => use FreeSurfer, BrainSuite or BrainVisa. ?See here.