ERP Decoding for Everyone: Software and Webinar

You can access the recording here.
You can access the final PDF of the slides here.
You can access the data here.

fMRI research has used decoding methods for over 20 years. These methods make it possible to decode what an individual is perceiving or holding in working memory on the basis of the pattern of BOLD activity across voxels. Remarkably, these methods can also be applied to ERP data, using the pattern of voltage across electrode sites rather than the pattern of activity across voxels to decode the information being represented by the brain (see this previous blog post). For example, ERPs can be used to decode the identity of a face that is being perceived, the emotional valence of a scene, the identity and semantic category of a word, and the features of an object that is being maintained in working memory. Moreover, decoding methods can be more sensitive than traditional methods for detecting conventional ERP effects (e.g., whether a word is semantically related or unrelated to a previous word in an N400 paradigm).

So far, these methods have mainly been used by a small set of experts. We aim to change that with the upcoming Version 10 of ERPLAB Toolbox. This version of ERPLAB will contain an ERP decoding tool that makes it trivially easy for anyone who knows how to do conventional ERP processing to take advantage of the power of decoding. It should be available in mid-July at our GitHub site. You can join the ERPLAB email list to receive an announcement when this version is released. Please do not contact us with questions until it has been released and you have tried using it.

On July 25, 2023, we will hold a 2-hour Zoom webinar to explain how decoding works at a conceptual level and show how to implement in ERPLAB Toolbox. The webinar will begin at 9:00 AM Pacific Time (California), 12:00 PM Eastern Time (New York), 5:00 PM British Summer Time (London), 6:00 PM Central European Summer Time (Berlin).

The webinar is co-sponsored by the ERP Boot Camp and the Society for Psychophysiological Research. It is completely free, but you must register in advance at https://ucdavis.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUrc-CtpzorEtBSmZXJINOlLJB9ZR0evpr4. Once you register, you will receive an email with your own individual Zoom link.

We will make a recording available a few days after the webinar on the ERPinfo.org web site.

Please direct any questions about the webinar to erpbootcamp@gmail.com.