DISTRIBUTION OF DISTURBANCE-PATTERNS IN THE HUMAN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SLEEP

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Abstract
Combined with the findings of other investigators of human electroencephalography, the following general picture of potential distribution is obtained. Right and left halves are fundamentally alike in pattern while front, top and back may be quite different. [beta] rhythm is predominantly front and top while [alpha] rhythm is predominantly back and top. Very large areas exhibit the same pattern or frequency which is often synchronous and in phase, less often out of phase and of slightly different frequency. Amplitude may vary greatly in different regions and at different times. Exceptions are noted to all the above statements. In the A (drowsing) state of sleep, patterns reflect those of the person awake but in the B, C, D and E states all persons show fundamentally similar patterns, 14 per sec. rhythm appearing predominantly on top and large 5 waves over whole of head. A disturbance affecting [alpha] rhythm when awake usually involves simultaneously all areas showing [alpha] rhythm, with delay of appearance in certain regions occasionally observed. A disturbance during sleep, whether resulting in the return of [alpha] rhythm, or the appearance of large 7-per-sec. potentials, or of the newly described K waves, affects all regions of the head to some extent. The K wave or complex is most marked in the C state of sleep, appearing as a negative and then a positive swing (with respect to ears), with superposed 14 to 8 per sec. rhythm. It regularly results from a tone stimulus but may appear spontaneously, most marked on top, less on front and least on back of head. With respect to potentials appearing on the surface of the skull the cortex thus acts as a whole.

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