ISSN: 2349-2783
ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM – AN ELABORATIVE STUDY OF AN EMERGING
BIOMETRIC FOR PERSON IDENTIFICATION
Dr. Gagandeep Jagdev
Abstract
Biometric is the technique which is used for
security purposes of critical data. Biometric
techniques like fingerprint detection, face
recognition, iris recognition, DNA etc. has
been in used since many years. But recently
a new biometric technique is under
development which makes use of energy of
brain potentials that are evoked during
processing of visual stimuli. This approach
makes use of technique called
electroencephalogram (EEG). An
electroencephalogram (EEG) is a test that
detects electrical activity in our brain using
small, flat metal discs (electrodes) attached
to our scalp. Our brain cells communicate
via electrical impulses and are active all the
time, even when we are asleep. An EEG is
one of the main diagnostic tests for epilepsy.
An EEG may also play a role in diagnosing
other brain disorders. In this research paper
we will have an in depth look at how to
prepare, how to perform, how it feels and
risks involved in this unique technique of
biometrics.
Keywords – biometric,
electroencephalogram, seizures, sleep EEG,
ambulatory EEG.
I. INTRODUCTION
Whenever we develop or try to build up a
new technique, it should be kept in mind
that any new creation or development should
be uncomplicated and acceptable for end
users in order to spread worldwide. This
strong demand for user-friendly systems
International Journal Of Innovation and Research in Computer Science
which can secure our assets and protect our
privacy without losing our identity in a sea
of numbers, grabbed the attention and
studies of
System Analyst, Dept. of Comp. Sc.,
Punjabi University Guru Kashi College,
Damdama Sahib (PB).
scientists toward what’s called biometrics.
Today biometrics and security are the
synonyms. Reliable user identification is
increasingly becoming important in the Web
enabled world today and there has been a
significant surge in the use of biometrics for
user identification. Biometric technologies
are becoming the foundation of an extensive
array of highly secure identification and
personal verification solutions. Biometrics
technology is based on identification of
individuals by a physical or behavioral
characteristic. Examples of recognition of
physical characteristics are fingerprints, iris,
and face or even hand geometry. Behavioral
characteristic can be the voice, signature or
other keystroke dynamics. Biometrics is the
budding area of bioengineering. Biometrics
modes of identification have been found to
be the most compelling and fascinating
authentication technique. Tokens can be
lost, stolen or duplicated and passwords can
be forgotten or shared. Forgotten passwords
and lost smart cards are a nuisance for users
and waste the expensive time of system
administrators. However, biometrics can
authenticate you as you. Biometrics is a
means of using parts of the human body as a
kind of permanent password.
Other emerging biometrics such as ear force
fields, heart signals, and brain signals have
been proposed in recent years. As signal
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recording from the brain is rather
complicated, biometrics based on brain
signals has not been studied extensively
though it is one of the most fraud resistant
biometrics. There are just few studies which
have been conducted on these brain signals.
One such study was conducted by Paranjape
et al. [3] who studied autoregressive (AR)
modeling of EEG in combination with
discriminant analysis and achieved a
classification accuracy ranging between 49
and 85%, while Poulus et al. [3] studied the
problem of distinguishing an individual
from the rest using a set of EEG recordings.
Their method was based on AR modeling of
EEG signals and Linear Vector Quantization
(LVQ) neural network (NN), which gave
72–80% classification accuracy.
An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a
recording of electrical activity of the brain
that epoch spontaneously over a short
period of time. Brain is made of two types
of cells, neurons and glia cells. Neurons are
polarized protein molecules that transport
charges across the membranes of the brain.
The EEG measures the change in voltage
resulting from ionic flow within the
neurons. The automated analysis of an EEG
has many applications in clinical
neurophysiology. The EEG is a non-
invasive tool used to measure the evoked
potential and oscillatory features of the
human brain function. The evoked
potentials are temporary waveforms, or
brief perturbations in the ongoing activity.
Spectral analysis is used to study the
specific events that occur in response to
oscillatory features. Using the way to
monitor the brain activity, it has applied in
brain computer interfaces with an aim to
enhance the communication and control
abilities of mentally disabled people.
However, the extracted features of an EEG
can be used to monitor the neurological
status of the brain, in particular the
identification of cerebral injury and
International Journal Of Innovation and Research in Computer Science
ISSN: 2349-2783
management of patients with neurological
trauma in critical care units [4].
EEG is a test that let us know how brain
functions overtime. The key use of EEG is
in the evaluation of brain disorders. It is
commonly used to show the type and
location of the activity in the brain during a
seizure. It also is used to evaluate people
having problems related with brain
function. These problems might include
confusion, coma, and tumors, long-term
difficulties with thinking or memory, or
weakening of specific parts of the body.
One another field where EEG finds its
application is to determine brain death. It
can be used to confirm that someone on life
support equipment has no chance of
recovery [9].
An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a very
safe and harmless test. The electrical activity
of your brain is recorded, but at no time is
any electrical current put into your body. An
EEG should not be confused with
electroshock therapy. If you have a seizure
disorder such as epilepsy, a seizure may be
triggered by the flashing lights or by
hyperventilation. If this occurs, the
technologist is trained to take care of you
during the seizure [10].
II. PROCEDURE
A. Before and during the procedure
Before conducting an EEG patients are
given some instructions which need to be
take care of. Some of these instructions are
 The patient may be asked to stop
taking seizure medication 1 to 2 days
before the test.
 The patient may be told to stop the
consumption of caffeine.
 The patient should not apply any hair
styling products on the day of the
test.
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 It is recommended that someone
should accompany the patient on the
day of the test especially if he or she
has been asked to stop taking seizure
medications.
 If the patient is having a sleep EEG,
he or she may be asked to stay
awake the night before the exam.
An ordinary EEG can be done
approximately in a period of one hour. The
patient is asked to lay on a bed or sit on a
comfortable chair. Then the technician
attaches 16 to 20 electrodes on the scalp to
measure the electrical activity of the brain.
These electrical impulses are gathered by
these electrodes. A use of gel can be made to
enhance the conduction of these electrical
impulses to the brain. Thereafter temporary
glue will be used to attach them to the skin.
This whole process involves no pain in any
manner. The primary job of the electrodes is
to only gather the impulses emitted by the
brain and do not transmit any stimulus to the
brain. Patient may be asked to breathe
slowly or quickly. Special effects can be
made using flashing lights to observe what
happens in the patient’s brain on visualizing
these effects. The brain's electrical activity is
recorded continuously throughout the exam
on special EEG paper.
The prominent forms of conducting EEG are
Sleep EEG and Ambulatory EEG. In case of
sleep EEG, the patient is placed in a special
room that promotes relaxation which results
in patient falling asleep. During this sleep
the brain keeps on working and its electrical
conductivity is continuously recorded. This
type of EEG may last from 2 to 3 hours. The
second kind of EEG is referred as
Ambulatory EEG. Ambulatory means
movement from one place to another or
walking. In this EEG the electrodes are
placed on patient’s scalp and attached to
portable cassettes recorder. The patient is
allowed to roam freely and can be allowed
International Journal Of Innovation and Research in Computer Science
ISSN: 2349-2783
to go home and carry on with his or her
normal activities and during all this time
EEG continuously records. This ambulatory
EEG can last up to 24 hours [7, 8].
B. After the procedure
Once the test is completed the electrodes are
removed from the patients scalp. No
recovery time is required and patient don’t
need to stay in the hospital and can be
immediately allowed to go to his or her
house. However the patient should avoid the
activities that may harm them if the seizure
occurs.
III. WHAT AFFECTS THE TEST
Reasons you may not be able to have the test
or why the results may not be helpful
include:
 Moving too much.
 Taking some medicines, such as
those used to treat seizures
(antiepileptic medicines) or
sedatives, tranquilizers.
 Not eating before the test.
 Drinking coffee, soda, tea, or other
foods that contain caffeine before the
test.
 Being unconscious from severe drug
poisoning or a very low body
temperature (hypothermia).
 Having hair that is dirty, oily, or
covered with hair spray or other hair
preparations. This can cause a
problem with the placement of the
electrodes.
IV. RESULTS OF EEG
An electroencephalogram (EEG) may be
done in a hospital or in a doctor's office by
an EEG technologist. The EEG record is
read by a doctor who is specially trained to
diagnose and treat disorders affecting the
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nervous system. EEG test results are ready
on the same or the next day.
There are several types of brain waves:
 Alpha waves are generated when
one’s eyes are closed but he/she is
mentally alert. Frequency range of
alpha waves ranges from 8 to 12
cycles per second. These waves
vanish when one’s eyes are open and
are concentrating.
 Beta waves occur when one is alert
or have taken high doses of certain
medicines such as benzodiazepines..
The frequency of beta waves ranges
from 13 to 30 cycles per second.
 Delta waves are prominent in young
children or when a person is asleep.
Delta waves frequency is normally
less than 3 cycles per second.
 Theta waves are very similar to delta
waves and are found in young
children or when a person is asleep.
But unlike delta waves the frequency
range of delta waves ranges from 4
to 7 cycles per second.
V. RISKS INVOLVED IN EEG
Electroencephalogram Normal:
 The EEG normally shows alpha and
beta waves in case of adults who are
awake.
 The electrical activities on both sides
of the brain are similar.
 There are no abnormal bursts of
electrical activity and slow brain
waves are also absent on EEG
tracing.
 If special visual effects like flashing
lights are used, then one area of the
brain may have a brief response after
each flash of light. However overall
brain waves are normal.
Electroencephalogram Abnormal:
 Both sides of the brain show
different patterns of electrical
International Journal Of Innovation and Research in Computer Science
ISSN: 2349-2783
activity. This means that the problem
is present in any one of the two sides
of the brain.
 EEG shows sudden slowing of brain
waves or sudden bursts of electrical
activity. These changes occur
because of brain tumor, infection,
stroke or epilepsy. If a person has
epilepsy, the exact pattern of
abnormal waves may help show the
type of epilepsy. It is mentionable
here that many people with epilepsy
may appear normal between
seizures.
 Too many theta or delta waves
indicate presence of brain injury or
brain illness.
 EEG shows no electrical activity in
the brain. A straight line appears on
the screen. It indicated that brain has
stopped functioning and it is caused
by lack of oxygen or blood flow
inside brain. This may happen when
a person has been in a coma. In some
cases, severe drug-induced sedation
can cause a flat EEG.
VI. WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
If the doctor thinks that a person has
epilepsy but the EEG is normal, the
technologist running the EEG test may have
the person look at a flashing light (photic
stimulation), breathe fast and deeply
(hyperventilation), or sleep during the test.
These techniques sometimes show epileptic
EEG patterns that did not show up at first. If
epilepsy is suspected after an initial EEG,
the doctor may repeat the EEG more than
once.
An EEG done during a seizure will almost
always show abnormal electrical patterns.
This makes an EEG useful when a doctor
thinks that a person is having psychogenic
non-epileptic seizures (also called
pseudoseizures), which have no physical
cause but can be caused by stress, emotional
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trauma, or mental illness. Psychogenic
seizures do not cause abnormal electrical
activity in the brain and will not show
abnormal EEG results.
Other tests that may also be done include:
Video EEG - Video EEG records seizures on
videotape and on computer so that the
doctor can see what happens just before,
during, and right after a seizure. This test
can be very helpful in finding the specific
area of the brain that the seizures may be
coming from. It is also helpful in diagnosing
psychogenic seizures, which may look like
real seizures but do not affect the electrical
activity in the brain. Video EEG may be
used short-term or long-term:
 Short-term monitoring is done on an
outpatient basis and may last up to 6
hours.
 Long-term monitoring is done in the
hospital and may last 3 to 7 days.
Brain mapping - Brain mapping is a fairly
new method that is very similar to EEG.
With electrodes placed on the person's scalp
to transmit the brain's electrical activity, a
computer makes a color-coded map of
signals from the brain. It is sometimes done
to find a specific problem area in the brain
that has already shown up on a regular EEG.
Doctors are still not certain how brain
mapping could be best used.
Ambulatory EEG monitoring - In
ambulatory EEG monitoring, the person is
able to move around, and the test allows for
long periods of time in recording of
electrical activity in the brain. Fewer
electrodes are attached to the person, and the
person carries a small, portable recording
unit. The recording may last for a full day or
more, and the person is allowed to leave the
hospital. Ambulatory EEG monitoring is not
as accurate as a regular EEG.
VII. ADVANTAGES OF EEG
It has now been agreed upon that brain
activity of every individual is unique and
International Journal Of Innovation and Research in Computer Science
ISSN: 2349-2783
therefore EEG can be used as a new
biometric technique for people identity
verification. There are many positive facts
that propagate the use of EEG as a
biometric. These facts are listed below.
 It is confidential to an individual
because the EEG waves correspond
to his/her mental task.
 It is impossible to copy and very
complex to mimic.
 An EEG is a reflection of individual
dependent inner mental tasks and
similar mental tasks are person
dependent which cannot be
reproduced by others.
 It cannot be stolen and is highly
secure.
 The brain activities are sensitive to
the stress and the mood of an
individual, and one cannot force an
individual to reproduce his/her
mental passphrase.
VIII. KEY ISSUES AND
CHALLENGES
EEG enables individual authentication via
the genetic information which it carries.
However, extensive analysis of the EEG is
required to obtain statistically significant
results for biometric applications. In order to
work an operationally viable system using
EEG as a biometric, the key issues that need
to be addressed are as follows:
 Proper placement of the scalp
electrodes and the data acquisition
 variability of the brain wave patterns
 scalability to a larger population
 heritability of the EEG patterns
Proper Placement of Scalp Electrodes and
Data Acquisition
The recording in EEG is carried out by the
electrodes placed on the scalp. Millions of
neurons having similar spatial orientation
are primary source of EEG. Usually 19
electrodes are placed on the scalp uniformly,
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but if very detailed information is to be
collected about brain sources then the
number of electrodes can be raised to 256.
EEG has a lower spatial resolution. It this
because of this that placing electrodes on the
persons head requires special attention. Any
kind of misplacement of electrodes on the
scalp results in distortion to the estimated
potential on the surface of brain. Among
electrodes, any one electrode is chosen as a
reference and with the help of this reference
electrode the potential at other location are
recorded. Misinterpretation can take place
because of inappropriate reference choice.
EEG involves a small amplitude noisy signal
possessing range of 1-20 Hz. The major
events that play part in EEG are blinking of
an eye, movements of eye, cardiac and
muscle activation. The improper placement
of electrodes results in high frequency
artifacts having frequency range from 50 to
60 Hz. Because of increase in artifacts, there
is an increase in interclass variation and
results in a false non-match. The entire
process of EEG requires total seriousness
and absolute participation of all subjects.
Variability of brain wave patterns
Different brain states results in different
results. An EEG of rapid eye movement will
be different from EEG of non-rapid eye
movement. Similarly walking, visualizing
and deep thinking results in different EEG.
The unique signal of visual evoked potential
(VEP) are directly related to one’s
consciousness and intellectual acuity which
are controlled by extra ocular muscles. It is
because of this that people with
neuromuscular disabilities lack extra ocular
muscle and cannot be identified by EEG
patterns. Usually EEG varies with age. The
child’s EEG is different from adult’s EEG
[5].
Scalability to a Larger Population
International Journal Of Innovation and Research in Computer Science
ISSN: 2349-2783
The potential of brain electrical activity as a
biometric explored by most methods is
lacking the sample size needed to determine
large-scale performance. Therefore, it is
difficult to draw a definite conclusion about
how to use the EEG as biometric for identity
verification. However, the next step is to test
the viability of the EEG as biometric over
larger data sets where different mental states
under different scenarios need to be
investigated [6].
Heritability of EEG Patterns
There is no significant difference between
spectral analysis of the EEG among twins.
However, the correlation of spectra of twins
(monozygotic and dizygotic) has shown the
intra-pair similarities that are significantly
more than the inter-individual similarity
between unrelated persons [1, 2].
IX. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE
WORK
 To be feasible, the system using
EEG signals must be able to perform
the authentication job over a larger
population.
 The effectiveness of most methods
using EEG as biometric till date has
been tested on normal healthy
subjects. The efforts are required for
the extension of proposed
frameworks to non-healthy subjects
as well.
 Another important thing to
concentrate upon is to discover that
up to what extent the EEG varies
with emotions or different states of
mind. As for instance, different
stimuli varies heart rate, different
neuron states varies brain wave
pattern.
 Acquiring data from EEG is another
critical factor to be taken care of.
The placement of electrodes to right
position requires detailed
understanding of brain for EEG
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