Synchronization characteristics of paroxysmal EEG activity.

Abstract 1. 1. Direct superimposition of highly resolved potential contours was capable of only first order measurements. 2. 2. Cross-correlations of contemporaneous potentials were made in an attempt to achieve a higher order of precision measurement. 3. 3. Using both types of measurement it was shown that physiological cortical visual system activities, in both man and cat, were closely synchronized following retinal stimulation. 4. 4. Convulsive discharges, even when primarily involving the visual system in man, showed a marked variability in the time of occurrence of measurable elements of the potential discharge derived from homologous regions of the head. 5. 5. These latter measurements suggested that the convulsive discharge was a contingent, adventitious action superimposed on the passive electrical characteristics of the anatomical network.