A Structured Review of EEG-Based Machine Learning Approaches for Brain Age Prediction

The determination of brain age based on electroencephalography (EEG) data has become widely developed with the spread of machine learning in recent years. In this research paper, we analyzed 21 articles published no earlier than 2015, focusing particularly on features, machine learning and deep learning models, and the validation process. The studies reviewed presented model performance on EEG data using machine learning or deep learning techniques. Deep convolutional and transformer-based models trained on well-curated features forecasted chronological age most precisely. In newborns, time–frequency and entropy-based characteristics showed good predictive power for the brain age index (BAI) and functional brain age (FBA). Consistently, spectral and nonlinear descriptors ranked among the most informative characteristics. Methodological rigor, meanwhile, differed: only a small number of studies used bias correction techniques, addressed statistical assumptions, or reported external validation. Preprocessing techniques also showed significant variation. Although EEG-based models have good accuracy, problems of interpretability and generalizability restrict their clinical and developmental use. Advancing this discipline will call for biologically based outcome definitions, uniform evaluation systems, and open source processing pipelines.