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%matplotlib inline

The :class:`Epochs <mne.Epochs>` data structure: epoched data

:class:Epochs <mne.Epochs> objects are a way of representing continuous data as a collection of time-locked trials, stored in an array of shape (n_events, n_channels, n_times). They are useful for many statistical methods in neuroscience, and make it easy to quickly overview what occurs during a trial.



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import mne
import os.path as op
import numpy as np
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt

:class:Epochs <mne.Epochs> objects can be created in three ways:

From a :class:Raw <mne.io.Raw> object, along with event times
From an :class:Epochs <mne.Epochs> object that has been saved as a .fif file
From scratch using :class:EpochsArray <mne.EpochsArray>. See tut_creating_data_structures



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data_path = mne.datasets.sample.data_path()
# Load a dataset that contains events
raw = mne.io.read_raw_fif(
    op.join(data_path, 'MEG', 'sample', 'sample_audvis_raw.fif'))

# If your raw object has a stim channel, you can construct an event array
# easily
events = mne.find_events(raw, stim_channel='STI 014')

# Show the number of events (number of rows)
print('Number of events:', len(events))

# Show all unique event codes (3rd column)
print('Unique event codes:', np.unique(events[:, 2]))

# Specify event codes of interest with descriptive labels.
# This dataset also has visual left (3) and right (4) events, but
# to save time and memory we'll just look at the auditory conditions
# for now.
event_id = {'Auditory/Left': 1, 'Auditory/Right': 2}

Now, we can create an :class:mne.Epochs object with the events we've extracted. Note that epochs constructed in this manner will not have their data available until explicitly read into memory, which you can do with :func:get_data <mne.Epochs.get_data>. Alternatively, you can use preload=True.

Expose the raw data as epochs, cut from -0.1 s to 1.0 s relative to the event onsets



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epochs = mne.Epochs(raw, events, event_id, tmin=-0.1, tmax=1,
                    baseline=(None, 0), preload=True)
print(epochs)

Epochs behave similarly to :class:mne.io.Raw objects. They have an :class:info <mne.Info> attribute that has all of the same information, as well as a number of attributes unique to the events contained within the object.



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print(epochs.events[:3])
print(epochs.event_id)

You can select subsets of epochs by indexing the :class:Epochs <mne.Epochs> object directly. Alternatively, if you have epoch names specified in event_id then you may index with strings instead.



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print(epochs[1:5])
print(epochs['Auditory/Right'])

It is also possible to iterate through :class:Epochs <mne.Epochs> objects in this way. Note that behavior is different if you iterate on Epochs directly rather than indexing:



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# These will be epochs objects
for i in range(3):
    print(epochs[i])

# These will be arrays
for ep in epochs[:2]:
    print(ep)

You can manually remove epochs from the Epochs object by using :func:epochs.drop(idx) <mne.Epochs.drop>, or by using rejection or flat thresholds with :func:epochs.drop_bad(reject, flat) <mne.Epochs.drop_bad>. You can also inspect the reason why epochs were dropped by looking at the list stored in epochs.drop_log or plot them with :func:epochs.plot_drop_log() <mne.Epochs.plot_drop_log>. The indices from the original set of events are stored in epochs.selection.



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epochs.drop([0], reason='User reason')
epochs.drop_bad(reject=dict(grad=2500e-13, mag=4e-12, eog=200e-6), flat=None)
print(epochs.drop_log)
epochs.plot_drop_log()
print('Selection from original events:\n%s' % epochs.selection)
print('Removed events (from numpy setdiff1d):\n%s'
      % (np.setdiff1d(np.arange(len(events)), epochs.selection).tolist(),))
print('Removed events (from list comprehension -- should match!):\n%s'
      % ([li for li, log in enumerate(epochs.drop_log) if len(log) > 0]))

If you wish to save the epochs as a file, you can do it with :func:mne.Epochs.save. To conform to MNE naming conventions, the epochs file names should end with '-epo.fif'.



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epochs_fname = op.join(data_path, 'MEG', 'sample', 'sample-epo.fif')
epochs.save(epochs_fname)

Later on you can read the epochs with :func:mne.read_epochs. For reading EEGLAB epochs files see :func:mne.read_epochs_eeglab. We can also use preload=False to save memory, loading the epochs from disk on demand.



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epochs = mne.read_epochs(epochs_fname, preload=False)

If you wish to look at the average across trial types, then you may do so, creating an :class:Evoked <mne.Evoked> object in the process. Instances of Evoked are usually created by calling :func:mne.Epochs.average. For creating Evoked from other data structures see :class:mne.EvokedArray and tut_creating_data_structures.



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ev_left = epochs['Auditory/Left'].average()
ev_right = epochs['Auditory/Right'].average()

f, axs = plt.subplots(3, 2, figsize=(10, 5))
_ = f.suptitle('Left / Right auditory', fontsize=20)
_ = ev_left.plot(axes=axs[:, 0], show=False, time_unit='s')
_ = ev_right.plot(axes=axs[:, 1], show=False, time_unit='s')
plt.tight_layout()

To export and manipulate Epochs using Pandas see sphx_glr_auto_tutorials_plot_epochs_to_data_frame.py, or to work directly with metadata in MNE-Python see sphx_glr_auto_tutorials_plot_metadata_epochs.py.

The :class:Epochs <mne.Epochs> data structure: epoched data

The :class:`Epochs <mne.Epochs>` data structure: epoched data