The cerebral cortex contains many neurons. The neuron is part of the nervous system
and it receives and transmits the electrical signals. These signals are significant
to a human's behaviour. Since the neurons are charged, these charges produce electrical
fields, so these neural signals can be measured by using scalp electrodes in
electroencephalography (EEG). As long as the brain is not dead, the spontaneous
activities of neurons will produce a series of EEG signals.
There are many models that have been developed for simulating the cortical signal,
and mostly each model is focused towards a different purpose or application.
Often, a different computer code has to be written for each different application, and
this can be inefficient. Therefore, this project aims to develop a software system for
simulating cortical signals where the model used for the system can be changed easily.
Furthermore, the system is requested to be versatile and easy-to-use for many
applications.
The developed system is written in MATLAB in response to a user requirement
and mostly applies to any model which uses a mean-field approach. Only the specific
inputs need to be modified for changing the model. This thesis details how this
system is developed. The main limitation of the system is computational resources,
much the same as other cortical modelling. However, all the user requirements had
been satisfied. The system can simulate the response of the neurons for any condition
and generate simulated EEG data to the user. The user can analyze the cortical
activities using the standard signal processing techniques such as a power spectrum.
This software is very helpful for the research of sleep and anaesthesia.
