Signal-to-noise ratio of the MEG signal after preprocessing

•The signal-to-noise ratio of event-related fields is used to evaluate the effectiveness of various preprocessing algorithms for magnetoencephalography data.•Signal Space Separation algorithms provide approximately a 100% increase in signal to noise ratio.•Epoch-based artifact rejection and decomposition methods such as independent component analysis yielded a signal to noise ratio increase of 5–10% and 35% respectively. The use of decomposition methods seems advisable.•The evaluation of the signal-to-noise ratio increase can help to guide the choice of preprocessing methods. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) provides a direct measure of brain activity with high combined spatiotemporal resolution. Preprocessing is necessary to reduce contributions from environmental interference and biological noise. The effect on the signal-to-noise ratio of different preprocessing techniques is evaluated. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was defined as the ratio between the mean signal amplitude (evoked field) and the standard error of the mean over trials. Recordings from 26 subjects obtained during and event-related visual paradigm with an Elekta MEG scanner were employed. Two methods were considered as first-step noise reduction: Signal Space Separation and temporal Signal Space Separation, which decompose the signal into components with origin inside and outside the head. Both algorithm increased the SNR by approximately 100%. Epoch-based methods, aimed at identifying and rejecting epochs containing eye blinks, muscular artifacts and sensor jumps provided an SNR improvement of 5–10%. Decomposition methods evaluated were independent component analysis (ICA) and second-order blind identification (SOBI). The increase in SNR was of about 36% with ICA and 33% with SOBI. No previous systematic evaluation of the effect of the typical preprocessing steps in the SNR of the MEG signal has been performed. The application of either SSS or tSSS is mandatory in Elekta systems. No significant differences were found between the two. While epoch-based methods have been routinely applied the less often considered decomposition methods were clearly superior and therefore their use seems advisable.