Electrical Activity of the Brain

  • David Ottoson
Chapter

Abstract

In 1875 a young English physiologist, Caton, reported in the British Medical Journal that he had succeeded in recording weak electrical currents from the brain of rabbits and monkeys. Caton had found that a sudden potential change occurred when the animal turned its head or chewed some food. Even more fascinating was the observation that a potential change was induced when a flame, which was the only source of light available in the room, was placed in front of the animal’s eyes. Caton’s report passed unnoticed and remained unknown for many years, and several other authors later claimed priority for the discovery of ‘brain currents’. About 15 years after Caton’s discovery, a Polish physiologist, Beck, reported in Centralhlatt für Physiologie that there were waxing and waning potential changes in the cortex and that these rhythmic potentials disappeared when the animal’s eyes were stimulated with light; this appears to be the first description of the arousal reaction.

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Copyright information

© D. Ottoson 1983

Authors and Affiliations

  • David Ottoson
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Physiology IIKarolinska InstitutetStockholmSweden

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