A finite-element reciprocity solution for EEG forward modeling with realistic individual head models

We present a finite element modeling (FEM) implementation for solving the forward problem in electroencephalography (EEG). The solution is based on Helmholtz's principle of reciprocity which allows for dramatically reduced computational time when constructing the leadfield matrix. The approach was validated using a 4-shell spherical model and shown to perform comparably with two current state-of-the-art alternatives (OpenMEEG for boundary element modeling and SimBio for finite element modeling). We applied the method to real human brain MRI data and created a model with five tissue types: white matter, gray matter, cerebrospinal fluid, skull, and scalp. By calculating conductivity tensors from diffusion-weighted MR images, we also demonstrate one of the main benefits of FEM: the ability to include anisotropic conductivities within the head model. Root-mean square deviation between the standard leadfield and the leadfield including white-matter anisotropy showed that ignoring the directional conductivity of white matter fiber tracts leads to orientation-specific errors in the forward model. Realistic head models are necessary for precise source localization in individuals. Our approach is fast, accurate, open-source and freely available online. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.