A period of resting physiology is essential to EEG research for multiple reasons. First, individual differences in baseline EEG have been associated with cognitive, emotional, and motor processes/skills (e.g., Bell & Fox, 1997; Benasich, Gao, Choudhury, & Harris, 2008; Smith & Bell, 2010). Baseline analyses are particularly useful with developmental populations because they permit the examination of brain-behavior relations when EEG recording during task performance is not permissible (i.e., too much motor movements). Second, researchers interested in task-related changes in EEG measures typically use a baseline period for comparisons (e.g., event-related desynchronization; Marshall, Young, & Meltzoff, 2011; task-related changes; Cuevas et al., 2012a, 2012b). Thus, obtaining an accurate baseline measure is critical to interpretation of EEG findings.
