WTools: a MATLAB-based toolbox for time-frequency analysis

Abstract

Electroencephalography (EEG) is an established method for investigating neurocognitive functions during human development. In cognitive neuroscience, time-frequency analysis of the EEG is a widely used analytical approach. This paper introduces WTools, a new MATLAB-based toolbox capable of performing time-frequency analysis of EEG signals using complex wavelet transformation. WTools features an intuitive GUI that guides users through the analysis steps, focusing on essential parameters. Being free and open-source, it can be integrated and expanded with new features, making it a handy tool that is growing its popularity in developmental cognitive neuroscience. Here, we provide a detailed description of the WTools algorithm for wavelet transformation and we compare it with state-of-the-art methods implemented in EEGLAB. Alongside the official tool release, we also offer a comprehensive illustrated tutorial to enhance accessibility and promote the transparent and reproducible usage of WTools by the scientific community. HighlightsO_LIWTools is a new MATLAB-based toolbox for time-frequency analysis of the EEG signal C_LIO_LIIt uses wavelet transformation and the algorithm is fully described C_LIO_LIIt is designed to be very user friendly through its simple GUI C_LIO_LIIt is open source and flexible as the code is freely available C_LIO_LIWe provide a step-by-step tutorial and an example dataset to learn the toolbox C_LI