EEG can detect the onset and spatio-temporal (location and time) evolution of seizures and the presence of status epilepticus. ĮEG can detect abnormal electrical discharges such as sharp waves, spikes or spike-and-wave complexes that are seen in people with epilepsy, thus it is often used to inform the medical diagnosis. Theta and delta waves are not seen in wakefulness and if they are it is a sign of brain dysfunction. If a relaxed person is told to open their eyes one observes alpha activity decreasing and an increase in beta activity. During intense mental activity beta waves are more prominent in frontal areas as well as other regions. Alpha waves are observed when a person is in a state of relaxed wakefulness and are mostly prominent over parietal and occipital sites. The observed frequencies are subdivided in various groups, these are alpha (8-13 Hz), beta (13-30 Hz), delta (0.5-4 Hz) and theta (4-7 Hz). The range of frequencies one observes are between 1 to 30 Hz and amplitudes will vary between 20 to 100 μV. Ī healthy human EEG will show certain patterns of activity which correlate with how awake a person is. Deep structures within the brain further away from the electrodes will not contribute directly to an EEG, these include the base of the cortical gyrus, mesial walls of the major lobes, hippocampus, thalamus and brain stem. This means not all neurons will contribute equally to an EEG signal with an EEG predominately reflecting the activity of cortical neurons near to the electrodes on the scalp. Furthermore the value recorded is distorted by intermediary tissues and bone which act in a manner akin to resistors and capacitors in an electrical circuit. As the electrical activity monitored by EEG originates in neurons in the underlying brain tissue, the recordings made by the electrodes on the surface of the scalp vary in accordance with their orientation and distance to the source of the activity. Voltage fluctuations measured by the EEG bioamplifier and electrodes allow the evaluation of normal brain activity. Clinical interpretation of EEG recordings is most often performed by visual inspection of the tracing or quantitative EEG analysis. Electrocorticography, involving surgical placement of electrodes, is sometimes called ' intracranial EEG'. It is typically non-invasive, with the EEG electrodes placed along the scalp (commonly called 'scalp EEG') using the International 10-20 system, or variations of it. The biosignals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neocortex and allocortex. Electroencephalography ( EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain.

Normal eeg vs seizure eeg