LEMON (MPI-Leipzig Mind-Brain-Body)

Description

LEMON (Leipzig Study for Mind-Body-Emotion Interactions) is the EEG-bearing arm of the MPI-Leipzig Mind-Brain-Body dataset, a cross-sectional deep-phenotyping study of healthy younger and older adults run at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany (Babayan et al., 2019). It was assembled to relate cognitive and emotional traits/states to physiological characteristics of brain and body in a healthy population, with the explicit aim of informing later clinical research on mind-body-emotion interactions. Across a two-day protocol, 227 participants completed 3 Tesla MRI (resting-state fMRI, quantitative T1/MP2RAGE, T2-weighted, FLAIR, SWI/QSM, DWI), a 62-channel resting-state EEG session, continuous cardiovascular monitoring during fMRI, an extensive battery of cognitive tests and emotion/personality questionnaires, plus anthropometric and blood-sample biomarkers. Data were acquired in Leipzig between September 2013 and September 2015.

Citation

• Paper DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2018.308
• Dataset DOI: TODO(confirm)
• Reference: Babayan, A., Erbey, M., Kumral, D., et al. (2019). A mind-brain-body dataset of MRI, EEG, cognition, emotion, and peripheral physiology in young and old adults. Scientific Data 6, 180308.

Catalog citation block

Babayan, A., Erbey, M., Kumral, D., Reinelt, J. D., Reiter, A. M. F., Röbbig, J., Schaare, H. L., Uhlig, M., Anwander, A., Bazin, P.-L., Horstmann, A., Lampe, L., Nikulin, V. V., Okon-Singer, H., Preusser, S., Pampel, A., Rohr, C. S., Sacher, J., Thöne-Otto, A., Trapp, S., Nierhaus, T., Altmann, D., Arelin, K., Blöchl, M., Bongartz, E., Breig, P., Cesnaite, E., Chen, S., Cozatl, R., Czerwonatis, S., Dambrauskaite, G., Dreyer, M., Enders, J., Engelhardt, M., Fischer, M. M., Forschack, N., Golchert, J., Golz, L., Guran, C. A., Hedrich, S., Hentschel, N., Hoffmann, D. I., Huntenburg, J. M., Jost, R., Kosatschek, A., Kunzendorf, S., Lammers, H., Lauckner, M. E., Mahjoory, K., Kanaan, A. S., Mendes, N., Menger, R., Morino, E., Näthe, K., Neubauer, J., Noyan, H., Oligschläger, S., Panczyszyn-Trzewik, P., Poehlchen, D., Putzke, N., Roski, S., Schaller, M.-C., Schieferbein, A., Schlaak, B., Schmidt, R., Gorgolewski, K. J., Schmidt, H. M., Schrimpf, A., Stasch, S., Voss, M., Wiedemann, A., Margulies, D. S., Gaebler, M., & Villringer, A. (2019). A mind-brain-body dataset of MRI, EEG, cognition, emotion, and peripheral physiology in young and old adults. Scientific Data, 6, 180308. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2018.308

Companion (broader MBB phenotyping/connectome release): Mendes, N., et al. (2019). A functional connectome phenotyping dataset including cognitive state and personality measures. Scientific Data, 6, 180307. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2018.307

Download and access

Field	Value
Official source	https://fcon_1000.projects.nitrc.org/indi/retro/MPI_LEMON.html
Access class	open
Size	per-subject .tar.gz (~250 MB raw, ~55 MB preprocessed); whether any download step needs an account is TODO(confirm)
Format	brainvision, eeglab_set
BIDS	false
Mirrors	https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/misc/MPI-Leipzig_Mind-Brain-Body-LEMON/ (GWDG; PID 21.11101/0000-0007-C379-5); s3://fcp-indi/data/Projects/INDI/MPI-LEMON (AWS S3); OpenNeuro ds000221 (MRI/behaviour, BIDS)

Source & access

The LEMON EEG and behavioral data are publicly available through the FCP/INDI retrospective collection hosted by the Max Planck Institute / NITRC, mirrored at the NITRC LEMON portal and downloadable via the EEG download page. The canonical distribution is via GWDG (Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen) at https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/misc/MPI-Leipzig_Mind-Brain-Body-LEMON/, with a persistent identifier PID 21.11101/0000-0007-C379-5 that survives any relocation. The dataset is also mirrored in the AWS S3 bucket fcp-indi/data/Projects/INDI/MPI-LEMON. The broader MRI + behavioral release is on OpenNeuro as ds000221 (BIDS-organized, 318 subjects, NIfTI, defaced) and registered on EBRAINS. The data descriptor carries a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license; the INDI/NITRC distribution page additionally references an Open Data (PDDL-style) dedication. Primary DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2018.308.

Data structure

The LEMON EEG distribution is not strictly BIDS-organized (unlike the OpenNeuro ds000221 MRI release, which is BIDS NIfTI); it ships as per-subject .tar.gz archives (~250 MB raw, ~55 MB preprocessed, ~3.5 KB localizer each) under the GWDG/INDI tree. Raw EEG is in BrainVision format (.vhdr header / .eeg binary / .vmrk markers); the preprocessed release is in EEGLAB format (.set / .fdt pairs, one each for EC and EO).

The localizer subfolder provides digitized electrode positions for the ~145 subjects whose channel locations were recorded.

License

• Name: CC-BY-4.0
• Note (verbatim from the directory): CC BY 4.0 per the data descriptor; the NITRC/INDI page references an Open Data (PDDL-style) dedication; exact dataset terms TODO(confirm) (§13 item 5)
• Snippets on this site: allowed — the site may ship short derived snippets and precomputed products from this dataset, labelled as derivatives (re-referenced, filtered, cropped) with citation, license and DOI.

Acquisition

Field	Value
Device	Brain Products BrainAmp MR plus with 62-channel actiCAP (61 EEG + VEOG)
Device class	research-cap
Channels	62
Sampling rate (Hz)	2500 (registry value: raw 2500, preprocessed 250)
Online filters	0.015–1000 Hz (raw); no notch at any stage. Preprocessed release: downsampled to 250 Hz, 1–45 Hz, PCA/ICA-cleaned
Reference	FCz
Mains frequency (Hz)	50
Paradigms	rest-ec, rest-eo
Participants	220 (registry value: raw 220, preprocessed 205, behavioral 227)
Population	227 healthy adults: young 20–35 (n = 153) and old 59–77 (n = 74); age released in 5-year bins
Clinical groups	none
Sessions	1
Durations	16 min resting: 16 alternating 1-min EC/EO blocks (8 EC + 8 EO)

Acquisition

Resting EEG was recorded on assessment day 2 with a BrainAmp MR plus amplifier and a 62-channel actiCAP active-electrode system (Brain Products GmbH, Gilching, Germany), comprising 61 scalp EEG electrodes plus 1 VEOG channel in a 10-10 layout, referenced to FCz and grounded at the sternum (Babayan et al., 2019). Recording was made with BrainVision Recorder Professional v1.20. The raw acquisition band-pass was 0.015—1000 Hz at a 2500 Hz sampling rate (Nyquist 1250 Hz); the hardware notch was off (confirmed in the .vhdr headers) and no notch filter was applied at any pipeline stage. Total acquisition was 16 minutes, structured as 16 one-minute blocks alternating eyes-closed and eyes-open (8 EC + 8 EO). The preprocessed release was downsampled to 250 Hz (Nyquist 125 Hz) and band-pass filtered 1—45 Hz with an 8th-order Butterworth, then outlier-channel-rejected, segmented to remove high-amplitude/high-frequency artifact, and cleaned with PCA + ICA (eye movement, blink, cardiac components).

Channels

Full 62-channel list:

Fp1, Fp2, F7, F3, Fz, F4, F8, FC5, FC1, FC2, FC6, T7, C3, Cz, C4, T8, VEOG, CP5, CP1, CP2, CP6, AFz, P7, P3, Pz, P4, P8, PO9, O1, Oz, O2, PO10, AF7, AF3, AF4, AF8, F5, F1, F2, F6, FT7, FC3, FC4, FT8, C5, C1, C2, C6, TP7, CP3, CPz, CP4, TP8, P5, P1, P2, P6, PO7, PO3, POz, PO4, PO8

Participants

The full LEMON sample is N=227 healthy adults split into two age cohorts (Babayan et al., 2019): a young group (N=153; mean age 25.1 ± 3.1 years; range 20—35; 45 female) and an elderly group (N=74; mean age 67.6 ± 4.7 years; range 59—77; 37 female). All participants were healthy; there are no clinical/patient subgroups. Demographic age is released in coarse 5-year bins (not exact ages) to reduce re-identifiability. Screening (recorded in the META file) covered SKID/DSM-IV diagnosis, Hamilton depression scale, BSL-23, AUDIT alcohol screening, drug screening, smoking, handedness, education, and family alcohol history.

Phenotyping

Cognitive test battery (8 tests): CVLT (California Verbal Learning Test), LPS (Leistungsprüfsystem — performance testing), RWT (Regensburger Wortflüssigkeits-Test — verbal fluency), TAP Alertness, TAP Incompatibility, TAP Working Memory (Test of Attentional Performance), TMT (Trail Making Test), and WST (Wortschatz Test — vocabulary).

Emotion & personality battery (41 instruments): personality — NEO-FFI, BISBAS, UPPS (impulsivity); emotion regulation — ERQ, CERQ, COPE; affect/mood — MDBF (Days 1—3), FEV; emotional intelligence — TEIQue-SF; stress/anxiety — PSQ, STAI-G-X2, TICS; anger — STAXI; social support — MSPSS, F-SozU K-22; quality of life — NYC-Q; other — MARS, TAS (alexithymia), FTP, LOT-R (optimism), YFAS (food addiction).

Medical data: anthropometry, blood pressure, and blood-sample biomarkers.

Demographics (META file): ID, gender, age (5-year bins), handedness, education, drug screening, smoking status, SKID diagnosis (DSM-IV), Hamilton scale, BSL-23, AUDIT, alcohol units, family alcohol history, and relationship status.

Tasks / conditions

The EEG paradigm is resting state only, with two interleaved conditions — Eyes Closed (EC) and Eyes Open (EO) — presented as 16 alternating 60-second blocks over a single 16-minute session. During eyes-open blocks participants fixated a low-contrast fixation cross. The preprocessed release ships one EC and one EO EEGLAB SET/FDT pair per subject. No active cognitive task was performed during EEG; the cognitive/emotion batteries (below) were administered separately and are paired with the EEG via subject ID. The remainder of the two-day protocol (MRI, peripheral physiology) is distributed in the broader MPI-Leipzig Mind-Brain-Body release, not in this EEG package.

Conditions

Resting state with two interleaved conditions: Eyes Closed (EC) and Eyes Open (EO). The preprocessed release ships an EC and an EO EEGLAB SET/FDT pair per subject.

Used on this site

L0.4, C0, L1.1, L1.7, C1, L2.3, L4.6, L5.2, L5.3, L5.4, L5.6, C5, L7.6, L7.7, w-raw-scroller, w-burst-detector

Loader

Fetches only the stated subset. Recorded loader: HTTPS (GWDG) — see snippet.

# Public GWDG tree (per-subject .tar.gz; ~250 MB raw, ~55 MB preprocessed).
# TODO(confirm) the exact per-subject archive path below the base URL.
BASE=https://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/misc/MPI-Leipzig_Mind-Brain-Body-LEMON/
wget -r -np -nH -l 3 --accept 'sub-010002*.tar.gz' "$BASE"

Caveats worth knowing

• The online reference FCz is absent as a channel and must be reconstructed for average reference.
• Raw and preprocessed releases differ in bandwidth (0.015–1000 Hz vs 1–45 Hz); subject counts drift between snapshots — report the N you loaded.
• Age is released in 5-year bins.

Notable caveats

• Subject-count version drift. EEG availability differs across releases/snapshots: the descriptor abstract states ~217 raw / ~202 preprocessed; the NITRC EEG download page lists 215 raw / 204 preprocessed. Treat counts as snapshot-dependent and report the exact N from the file set actually loaded. The preprocessed release covers a subset of the raw subjects; the difference reflects QC exclusions.
• No notch at any stage. The trade-off is that 50 Hz line noise (German mains) may persist in the raw data; in the preprocessed release it was largely absorbed by ICA but is not explicitly notched.
• Two very different releases. Raw is 0.015—1000 Hz at 2500 Hz; preprocessed is 1—45 Hz at 250 Hz with PCA/ICA cleaning. The 1 Hz preprocessed high-pass and 45 Hz low-pass remove slow drifts and all gamma above 45 Hz — use the raw release for any analysis above ~45 Hz or below 1 Hz. Always state which release an analysis draws on.
• FCz online reference. Recordings are referenced to FCz; FCz is therefore absent as a data channel and must be reconstructed if an average or linked-mastoid reference is desired.
• Coarse age bins. Demographic age is released in 5-year bins, not exact ages, limiting fine-grained age-regression analyses (use the two-group young/elderly split for age contrasts).
• EEG package vs. full MBB dataset. The 227-participant LEMON EEG study is a subset of the larger MPI-Leipzig Mind-Brain-Body release (OpenNeuro ds000221, 318 subjects); MRI/physiology live there, not in this EEG package.

Related datasets

• ERP CORE (Compendium of Open Resources and Experiments)
• EEG Motor Movement/Imagery Dataset (EEGMMIDB)
• Dortmund Vital Study resting EEG
• SRM Resting-state EEG
• EEG During Mental Arithmetic Tasks (EEGMAT)

# Loader recorded in the catalog: HTTPS (GWDG) — see snippet
# TODO(confirm) the exact call and the subset to fetch. Official source: https://fcon_1000.projects.nitrc.org/indi/retro/MPI_LEMON.html