Alpha-band activity detected in EEG research: a century of researches and errors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24866/3033-5485/2025-3/13-24Keywords:
EEG, rhythm analysis, cognitive functions, source of activity, physiology of brain activityAbstract
The rhythmic activity of the brain is often perceived as a direct reflection of its functional activity. Despite the long period of study, there is currently no common understanding of this phenomenon, which significantly complicates the study of higher nervous functions.
Rhythmic activity of the alpha range is a complex of rhythmic phenomena produced in the visual cortex (areas 17, 18, 19), retrosplenial cortex (area 31), gnostic centers, united in the parietal region in the structure of the 7th Brodmann area, as well as in the structures of auditory perception (including Wernicke's area). The frequency and amplitude of alpha activity are not associated with the processes of implementing higher nervous functions, since they do not represent a bioelectric equivalent of the functional excitation of cortical structures, therefore, it is more appropriate to consider the alpha activity recorded during the EEG study as a kind of “carrier” component formed by individual cortical structures implementing basic functions associated with perception and spatial orientation.
The conducted study of the functional activity of structurally unchanged brain structures could offer technologies for objective diagnostics for neuropsychological and psychiatric diseases, i.e. in those areas where the position of objective diagnostic methods is extremely weak even at present.
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