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)

• Data visualization:
  • Various time series displays
  • Data mapping on the head surface
  • Generate slides and animations
  • Channel selection
  • Frequency filtering
  • 3D surface rendering
• MRI visualization and coregistration:

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

  • Co-registration with the MEG/EEG coordinate system
  • Volume rendering
• 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
  • Graphic batching tools (apply a same process to many files in a few clicks)
• Forward modeling:
  • Single sphere method
  • Overlapping spheres method
  • Realistic head models using BEM and FEM
• Inverse modeling:
  • Minimum-norm imaging of the cortical current density
• Group analysis:
  • Registration of individual brains on the MNI "Colin27" brain
  • Statistical analysis (t-tests, permutations)

What you cannot do with Brainstorm

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

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

Requirements

Brainstorm is written in Matlab code only, thus it can run on any operating system supported by Matlab (including Windows, Linux, MacOS...).

If you have a Matlab licence:

• You can download and run directly the Brainstorm source scripts,
• Minimum Matlab version: 7.1 (= R14-SP3)
• Minimum Java VM version: 1.5 (To check that: type "ver" at Matlab command prompt)

If you do not have a Matlab licence:

• You can download the Brainstorm binaries corresponding to your operating system.
• The executables are build using the Matlab Compiler (mcc)
• They will install automatically the Matlab Component Runtime (MCR) on your computer, a freely redistributable library