Is EEG best left alone?

Abstract

A recent article (Delorme, A., 2023, EEG is better left alone. Scientific Reports, 13, 2372. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-27528-0) proposed a metric to determine the benefit of applying pre-processing methods to EEG data. Using that metric, it concluded that most pre-processing methods do not improve data quality. The question is revisited in this short paper, using a sample of the same data as used by that paper. It is argued that the metric is of limited applicability, and that in some situations pre-processing might be critical to make good use of the data. Note: This paper was submitted to Scientific Reports as a commentary to the paper cited and rejected without review.