Psychic Function and the Electroencephalogram

Abstract

NEW YORK THE ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM has not revealed the secret of nonorganic mental illness. In general, organic cerebral pathologic changes, including toxic changes, determine the presence of abnormality in the electroencephalogram. In the absence of such changes there is, a priori, no reason to expect abnormality of the electroencephalogram\p=m-\ and for the most part abnormality has not been found. Accordingly, a good deal of attention has been directed to the investigation of normal alterations in the electroencephalogram, such as changes in the alpha factor or in the amount of fast activity.It is the purpose of this paper critically to review the literature concerning variations in the electroencephalogram with normal psychic functioning.ALPHA ACTIVITY 1. Alpha Activity and Perception.\p=m-\Alphaactivity appears most prominently when the eyes of the subject are protected from light, and it promptly diminishes in amplitude and prevalence on exposure to light. The latency of this effect is given as 0.27 to 0.29 second when the light stimulus is of relatively high intensity, and it persists for at least 0.2 second. This latent period may vary from 0.1 to 0.9 second with decreasing intensity of the light stimulus (proportionally to its logarithm) and with decreasing duration of the flash. When alpha rhythm is not completely obliterated, it usually appears at a higher frequency, occasionally to the extent of 40 per cent (

All-Night Electroencephalographic Study of Insomnia

“…In this respect, it is very difficult at present to correlate psychiatric disorders and electroencephalographic patterns, as was seen in many reports (20)(21)(22). Once we have established that there are no electroencephalographic abnormalities specifically linked to insomnia, we would be able to compare the sleep patterns of insomniacs with those of normal persons by means of the electroencephalograms.…”

All-Night Electroencephalographic Study of Insomnia

“…In this respect, it is very difficult at present to correlate psychiatric disorders and electroencephalographic patterns, as was seen in many reports (20)(21)(22). Once we have established that there are no electroencephalographic abnormalities specifically linked to insomnia, we would be able to compare the sleep patterns of insomniacs with those of normal persons by means of the electroencephalograms.…”

Electroencephalogram and rapid eye movements during free imagery and dream recall.

“…Another hypothesis is that the percentage of alpha in the free imagery condition was too low to be desynchronized by visual imagery; however, the obtained percentage of alpha in this condition is consistent with the percentage of alpha in an eyes-closed resting period often cited in the general EEC literature. Moreover, according to Ostow (1950), the direction of change is unrelated to the base-line percentage of alpha. There should have been some desynchronization regardless, but there was not.…”

Extraversion‐introversion, Neuroticism and the Eeg: Basal and Response Measures During Habituation of the Orienting Response

“…As we have pointed out elsewhere , experimental error of several types could account for the equivocal nature of the results. All those who have reviewed the field agree on this point (Claridge 6 Herrington, 1963;Claridge, 1967;Duffy, 1962; Eysenck, 1967Eysenck, , 1970 Fink, 1969; Glaser, 1963; Goldstein & Sugerman, 1969; Harding, 1968; Hill, 1963; Mundy-Castle, 1955; Ostow, 1950; Sisson & Ellingson, 1955;Walters, 1964). Inspection of these reviews provides the following list of possible sources of experimental error : population sampling ; unreliable and unvalidated measures of personality; crude clinical classification of subjects; failure to control for drug medication in chemotherapy; inattention to metabolic factors such as time since last meal and time of day; visual analysis of EEG; absence of measures of within or between marker reliability ; non-random sampling of EEG ; unjustified rejection of EEG records and/or subjects as ' unscorable ' ; misinterpretation of low-frequency analysis data ; confusion about the relationship between frequency and amplitude ; overemphasis on alpha frequencies as opposed to the other frequency bands; non-standard recording procedures ; possible experimenter bias during recording and scoring ; effects of institutionalization on clinical subjects ; implicib and explicit set within the subject; inappropriate statistical analysis ; neglect of law of initial values; and finally, failure t o provide a theoretical rationale for prediction of experimental outcome and consequent dependence on post hoc hypotheses.…”

All-Night Electroencephalographic Study of Insomnia

“…In this respect, it is very difficult at present to correlate psychiatric disorders and electroencephalographic patterns, as was seen in many reports (20)(21)(22). Once we have established that there are no electroencephalographic abnormalities specifically linked to insomnia, we would be able to compare the sleep patterns of insomniacs with those of normal persons by means of the electroencephalograms.…”

Electroencephalogram and rapid eye movements during free imagery and dream recall.

“…Another hypothesis is that the percentage of alpha in the free imagery condition was too low to be desynchronized by visual imagery; however, the obtained percentage of alpha in this condition is consistent with the percentage of alpha in an eyes-closed resting period often cited in the general EEC literature. Moreover, according to Ostow (1950), the direction of change is unrelated to the base-line percentage of alpha. There should have been some desynchronization regardless, but there was not.…”

Extraversion‐introversion, Neuroticism and the Eeg: Basal and Response Measures During Habituation of the Orienting Response

“…As we have pointed out elsewhere , experimental error of several types could account for the equivocal nature of the results. All those who have reviewed the field agree on this point (Claridge 6 Herrington, 1963;Claridge, 1967;Duffy, 1962; Eysenck, 1967Eysenck, , 1970 Fink, 1969; Glaser, 1963; Goldstein & Sugerman, 1969; Harding, 1968; Hill, 1963; Mundy-Castle, 1955; Ostow, 1950; Sisson & Ellingson, 1955;Walters, 1964). Inspection of these reviews provides the following list of possible sources of experimental error : population sampling ; unreliable and unvalidated measures of personality; crude clinical classification of subjects; failure to control for drug medication in chemotherapy; inattention to metabolic factors such as time since last meal and time of day; visual analysis of EEG; absence of measures of within or between marker reliability ; non-random sampling of EEG ; unjustified rejection of EEG records and/or subjects as ' unscorable ' ; misinterpretation of low-frequency analysis data ; confusion about the relationship between frequency and amplitude ; overemphasis on alpha frequencies as opposed to the other frequency bands; non-standard recording procedures ; possible experimenter bias during recording and scoring ; effects of institutionalization on clinical subjects ; implicib and explicit set within the subject; inappropriate statistical analysis ; neglect of law of initial values; and finally, failure t o provide a theoretical rationale for prediction of experimental outcome and consequent dependence on post hoc hypotheses.…”

All-Night Electroencephalographic Study of Insomnia

“…In this respect, it is very difficult at present to correlate psychiatric disorders and electroencephalographic patterns, as was seen in many reports (20)(21)(22). Once we have established that there are no electroencephalographic abnormalities specifically linked to insomnia, we would be able to compare the sleep patterns of insomniacs with those of normal persons by means of the electroencephalograms.…”

Electroencephalogram and rapid eye movements during free imagery and dream recall.

“…Another hypothesis is that the percentage of alpha in the free imagery condition was too low to be desynchronized by visual imagery; however, the obtained percentage of alpha in this condition is consistent with the percentage of alpha in an eyes-closed resting period often cited in the general EEC literature. Moreover, according to Ostow (1950), the direction of change is unrelated to the base-line percentage of alpha. There should have been some desynchronization regardless, but there was not.…”

Extraversion‐introversion, Neuroticism and the Eeg: Basal and Response Measures During Habituation of the Orienting Response

“…As we have pointed out elsewhere , experimental error of several types could account for the equivocal nature of the results. All those who have reviewed the field agree on this point (Claridge 6 Herrington, 1963;Claridge, 1967;Duffy, 1962; Eysenck, 1967Eysenck, , 1970 Fink, 1969; Glaser, 1963; Goldstein & Sugerman, 1969; Harding, 1968; Hill, 1963; Mundy-Castle, 1955; Ostow, 1950; Sisson & Ellingson, 1955;Walters, 1964). Inspection of these reviews provides the following list of possible sources of experimental error : population sampling ; unreliable and unvalidated measures of personality; crude clinical classification of subjects; failure to control for drug medication in chemotherapy; inattention to metabolic factors such as time since last meal and time of day; visual analysis of EEG; absence of measures of within or between marker reliability ; non-random sampling of EEG ; unjustified rejection of EEG records and/or subjects as ' unscorable ' ; misinterpretation of low-frequency analysis data ; confusion about the relationship between frequency and amplitude ; overemphasis on alpha frequencies as opposed to the other frequency bands; non-standard recording procedures ; possible experimenter bias during recording and scoring ; effects of institutionalization on clinical subjects ; implicib and explicit set within the subject; inappropriate statistical analysis ; neglect of law of initial values; and finally, failure t o provide a theoretical rationale for prediction of experimental outcome and consequent dependence on post hoc hypotheses.…”