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Transmission of electric fields in cortical tissue: A model for the origin of the alpha rhythm

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Abstract

A mathematical model of the cortex is developed, in which a great many independently-firing sources of voltage pulses are assumed to be imbedded in a diffusive medium of indefinite extent. In such a medium, characterized by a conductivity and a capacitivity (capacitance per unit volume), electrical disturbances diffuse in a manner analogous to the conduction of heat in solids.

Assuming random firing of the individual pulse sources (which simulate neurons) and invoking Campbell's Theorem, the power spectrum of the voltage appearing at any point within the medium can be calculated. As a consequence of the positive after-potential in the neural discharge (which is shown to be a physical necessity), the power spectrum is found to contain a single low-frequency peak. For reasonable parameter values, this peak appears at very near the classical alpha frequency of ten cycles per second.

The related phenomena of evoked potentials, alpha blocking, and photic driving are also discussed in terms of the model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical and Biological Division, Space-General Corporation, El Monte, California

    Charles E. Hendrix

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  1. Charles E. Hendrix
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Hendrix, C.E. Transmission of electric fields in cortical tissue: A model for the origin of the alpha rhythm. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 27, 197 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02498775

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02498775

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