BrainBeats: an open-source EEGLAB plugin to jointly analyze EEG and cardiovascular (ECG/PPG) signals

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe link between the cortical and cardiovascular systems is garnering increased attention due to their potential to offer valuable insights into brain and heart function coupling. EEG and ECG/PPG provide non-invasive, cost-effective, and portable solutions for capturing brain-heart interactions in laboratory, clinical, or real-world settings. However, scalable applications in this domain are limited due to technical challenges and the lack of guidelines. Existing tools often lack statistical methodologies, easy-to-use user interface, or automated capability for large datasets, crucial for reproducibility. A further void exists in standardized quantitative EEG (qEEG) and heart-rate variability (HRV) feature extraction methods, undermining clinical diagnostics or the robustness of machine learning (ML) models. In response to these challenges, we introduce the BrainBeats toolbox, implemented as an open-source EEGLAB plugin providing a suite of signal processing and feature-extraction functions. The toolbox integrates three main protocols: 1) Heartbeat-evoked potentials (HEP) and oscillations (HEO) for assessing time-locked brain-heart interplay at the millisecond accuracy; 2) qEEG and HRV feature extraction for examining associations between various brain and heart metrics or building robust feature-based ML models; 3) Automated extraction of heart artifacts from EEG signals to remove any potential cardiovascular contamination while conducting EEG analysis. We provide a step-by-step tutorial for performing these three methods on an open-source dataset containing simultaneous 64-channel EEG, ECG, and PPG. A range of parameters can be tuned to tailor unique research needs via either the graphical user interface (GUI) or the command line. BrainBeats should make brain-heart interplay research more accessible and reproducible.SUMMARYThe BrainBeats toolbox is an open-source EEGLAB plugin designed to analyze EEG and cardiovascular (ECG/PPG) signals jointly. It offers three main protocols: heartbeat-evoked potentials assessment, feature-based analysis, and heart artifact extraction from EEG signals. It should aid researchers and clinicians in studying brain-heart interactions with enhanced reproducibility and accessibility.