EEG Cartography of a Night of Sleep

Abstract

Quantitative analysis of EEGs has been applied since 1932 by using Rourier spectral analysis. However, it is only in 1963 that D.C. Walter was able to use Fast Fourier Transform algorithm (FFT) for computing power spectra. With the introduction of mini-and micro-computers, spectral analysis of EEG has been extensively developed. First, it was used for clinical pathology and pharmaco-EEG research. More that 800 references and almost 15 books are indicative of this growing trend. Quantitative EEG analysis was first applied to a few EEG channels. Pioneers like A. Remond in Paris, H. Petsche in Vienna, D. Lehmann in Zurich, have published articles on brain electrical field distributions over the scalp, applying quantitative EEG techniques to 32 electrodes and more. Only ten years ago S. Ueno published on “Topographic Computer Display of Abnormal EEG Activities in Patients with CNS Diseases.” We may consider that EEG cartography started with this publication, using all the resources of computerized imaging techniques. This was followed in 1979 by F.M. Doffy’s first articles on brain electrical EEG mapping (BEAM) and in 1982 by M.S. Buchsbaum and R. Coppola article describing “A New System for Gray-level Surface Distribution Maps of Electrical Activity”. In the same year, M.S. Buchsbaum published the first article on “Topographic Cortical. Mapping of EEG Sleep Stages During Day-time Naps in Normal Subjects.” This was followed by a growing research interest on EEG cartography in psychiatry, neurology, psychophysiology and pharmaco-EEG.