The impact of downsampling on data quality, univariate measurement and multivariate pattern analysis in event-related potential research

Abstract

The choice of sampling rate is a critical preprocessing step in event-related potential (ERP) research, yet its impact on different analytic approaches remains underexplored. In this study, we systematically evaluated how downsampling affects data quality measured via Standardized Measurement Error (SME), conventional univariate ERP metrics (mean amplitude, peak amplitude, peak latency, and 50% area latency), and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA; decoding). We analyzed seven commonly studied ERP components: P3, N400, N170, N2pc, mismatch negativity, error-related negativity, and lateralized readiness potential collected from neurotypical young adults. Results showed that both amplitude- and latency-based scores were significantly affected by sampling rate changes, particularly for 50% area latency that presented increased SME (reduced data quality) at lower sampling rates. Amplitude-based measures and their corresponding effect sizes were more influenced by sampling rate variations, whereas latency-based measures were comparatively stable across different temporal resolutions. In contrast, multivariate decoding performance remained highly robust, with decoding accuracy and effect sizes showing minimal variation even at the lowest sampling rate (e.g., 64 Hz). Overall, these findings suggest that caution should be exercised when employing lower sampling rates for data quality and conventional univariate ERP analyses. Nevertheless, lower sampling rates (e.g., 64 Hz) may still be appropriate for decoding analyses, particularly in studies where precise temporal resolution is not critical. For researchers analyzing ERP data with similar components, noise levels, and participant populations as in this study, following these recommendations should yield robust statistical power.