Exploring the neurosubstrates of EEG asymmetry

This multi-institutional collaborative will reassess the role of scalp-recorded EEG, a tool originally designed for clinical diagnosis now widely used by researchers, within cognitive neuroscience. The utility of scalp-recorded EEG is subject to controversy and debate. First, for physical and technical reasons, it is extremely difficult to identify the source within the brain of electrical signals measured on the scalp. Second, it is not firmly established whether assumptions made in the analysis of adult EEG signals directly translate to studies in small children and non-human primates. To address these two open questions, the researchers will validate the use of scalp EEG by developing an animal model that allows more invasive single-cell electrical recordings to be obtained in the same subjects from which scalp EEG signals are recorded. The research team also proposes to investigate the basis of a reported right/left EEG asymmetry and determine if the source of the asymmetry is in the frontal lobes (as commonly believed) or in the amygdala, a sub-cortical brain structure thought to be important in emotional processing.

The results of this study will be of fundamental importance in delineating how and when it is appropriate to use scalp-recorded EEG to make inferences about the neurological structures, especially in studies of emotional development in children.