Cite as : Cole SR & Voytek B , Brain oscillations and the importance of waveform shape ,

Oscillations are a prevalent feature of brain recordings. They are believed to play key roles in neural communication and computation. Current analysis methods for studying neural oscillations often implicitly assume the oscillations are sinusoidal. While these approaches have proven fruitful, here we show that there are numerous instances in which neural oscillations are nonsinusoidal. We highlight approaches to characterize nonsinusoidal features and account for them in traditional spectral analysis. Rather than being a nuisance, we discuss how these nonsinusoidal features may provide critical, heretofore overlooked physiological information related to neural communication, computation, and cognition.