Principal Subspace Analysis Based BCG Artifact Removal in Single Channel EEG Signal Measured Inside MRI Scanner

Single channel EEG analysis is vital for clinical as well as for brain computer interface (BCI) studies. The measured EEG signal contains different artifacts. Among these artifacts Ballistocardiogram artifact is most prominent; it gets amplified when measurements are made inside the MRI scanner making the EEG analysis practically impossible. There are different methods to remove these artifacts from single channel observation. However, these conventional methods either require an estimation of artifact template or reference signal for the artifact. In this study, we propose a method based on principal subspace analysis for BCG artifact removal from EEG signal measured inside MRI. This method does not suffer from any of the above mentioned disadvantages of conventional methods. We have removed the BCG artifacts from both the continuous as well as visual evoked potentials measured inside MRI scanner. The results presented in the manuscript suggest that the proposed method could be used for single channel EEG studies.