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The reflection of different aspects of brain activation in the electroencephalogram: Quantitative electroencephalography of the states of rest with the eyes open and closed

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Abstract

The rest states with the eyes open (RSEO) and closed (RSEC) were subjected to quantitative EEG study as states similar in the pattern of mental activity and subjective assessments but different in the EEG pattern. The mean values of the spectral power and EEG coherence function were compared in 74 subjects for the following bands: Δ, ϑ, α1, α2, β1, β2, and γ. Upon the transition from the RSEC to the RSEO, the EEG local power significantly decreased over the whole cortex for the α, ϑ, and β bands. A simultaneous decrease in the EEG power in all the bands (including β and γ) was most pronounced (as judged by relative changes and tests of significance of difference) in the parietooccipital derivations immediately related to the cortical zones where an increase in the neuronal activity upon opening the eyes is most probable. A significant increase in the EEG power was observed only for the γ band in frontal derivations F 3 and F 4. Significant differences in the mean EEG coherence in the RSEO-RSEC comparison were present in many derivation pairs, especially in the α2, β1, β2, and γ bands. For each of these bands, the number of differences determined on the basis of Fisher test was more than 70% of the maximum possible number. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the coherence was lower in the RSEO; however, in the caudal cortical zones, a higher coherence in the α1, ϑ, and Δ bands in the RSEO was rather typical. The results confirmed that the two states under study differ in a number of averaged EEG parameters with high statistical significance and may be used as reference states during performance of tasks with the eyes open and closed, respectively. The differences between the RSEC and the RSEO may be caused by the fact that the RSEC is a functional state oriented predominantly to the analysis of internal information (internally oriented), and the RSEO, predominantly to the analysis of information coming from the outside (externally oriented). The pattern of the observed EEG differences points to a combination of effects both localized in the visual zone and reflecting changes in the network cortical activity, i.e., simultaneous, although nonuniform, changes over all the main zones of the cortex. Comparison of the results with published estimations of differences in the local cerebral blood flow (ICBF) between the RSEO and the RSEC shows that increase in the ICBF may be associated with a local decrease in the EEG spectral power in any frequency band, including the high-frequency β and γ bands, or several frequency bands simultaneously.

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  1. Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 197022, Russia

    S. G. Danko

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Original Russian Text © S.G. Danko, 2006, published in Fiziologiya Cheloveka, 2006, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 5–17.

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Danko, S.G. The reflection of different aspects of brain activation in the electroencephalogram: Quantitative electroencephalography of the states of rest with the eyes open and closed. Hum Physiol 32, 377–388 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119706040013

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