Electroencephalography
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Electroencephalography (EEG) is a simple, painless, non-invasive technique which measures brain activity from small recording electrodes placed on the scalp either individually or by means of specially designed electrode caps.
Services offered
As a research tool EEG is very helpful in identifying interactions between different cortical brain areas and as a diagnostic tool it can be used to detect abnormal brain activity. This is, in part, due to EEG having a very high temporal resolution (within the millisecond range) and, with a large number of electrodes, the possibility to locate regions of activity.
Within the Faculty of Medical Sciences we use EEG for a variety of studies including investigating neural correlates of memory and attention through the analysis of event-related potentials and/or brain wave oscillations in response to visual or audible stimuli in adult subjects. Indeed we have a variety of visual and auditory presentation paradigms currently in use, all of which have been written and developed in-house, and we can advise on the creation and adaptation of paradigms to an EEG-compatible design. We also study the EEG signals associated with movements, particularly those of the hand.
We have several EEG laboratories based at the Newcastle General Hospital and the Medical School. The laboratories are equipped with EEG amplifiers which can record up to 64 channels and two of our laboratories are located in sound attenuated rooms to enable precise control of auditory stimuli.
We have extensive experience of working with a wide variety of people, from young babies up to the old aged, and people suffering with a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders. The EEG Facility is managed by a full time EEG technologist who provides technical advice and support to ongoing studies. For any studies we can advise on obtaining the necessary ethical permissions to study different subject groups.