Analyzing neural activity under prolonged mask usage through EEG

• Published in: Brain research Vol. 1822; p. 148624
• Main Authors: Rizvi, Syed Maaz Ahmed, Buriro, Abdul Baseer, Ahmed, Irfan, Memon, Abdul Aziz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.01.2024
• Subjects: Cognitive performance; COVID-19; EEG; LDA; Neurology; COVID-19; LDA; Cognitive performance; EEG
• ISSN: 0006-8993; 1872-6240; 1872-6240
• DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2023.148624

[Display omitted] •Prolonged mask usage (≥2 h) significantly deteriorates the oxygen saturation levels inside a human.•Affected SpO2 levels jeopardize the cognitive performance of humans.•Prolonged mask-wearing suppresses neural activity and impacts the frontal and occipital lobes the most.•For brain waves, alpha, beta, and gamma are majorly affected as they account for visual focus and other cognitive functions.•The effects of mask could vary due to differences in gender, age, mask type, and fatigue. In recent COVID times, mask has been a compulsion at workplaces and institutes as a preventive measure against multiple viral diseases including coronavirus (COVID-19) disease. However, the effects of prolonged mask-wearing on humans’ neural activity are not well known. This paper is to investigate the effect of prolonged mask usage on the human brain through electroencephalogram (EEG), which acquires neural activity and translates it into comprehensible electrical signals. The performances of 10 human subjects with and without mask were assessed on a random patterned alphabet game. Besides EEG, physiological parameters of oxygen saturation, heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature were recorded. Spectral and statistical analysis were performed on the recorded entities along with linear discriminant analysis (LDA) on extracted spectral features. The mean EEG spectral power in alpha, beta, and gamma sub-bands of the subjects with mask was smaller than the subjects without mask. The performances on the task and the oxygen saturation level between the two groups differed significantly (p < 0.05). Whereas, the blood pressure, body temperature, and heart rate of both groups were similar. Based on the LDA analysis, the occipital and frontal lobes exhibited the greatest variability in channel measurements, with O1 and O2 channels in the occipital lobe demonstrating significant variations within the alpha band due to visual focus, while the F3, AF3, and F7 channels were found to be differentiating within the beta and gamma frequency bands due to the cognitive stimulating tasks. All other channels were observed to be non-discriminatory.