electroencephalography, Medicine

Related Category: Medicine

electroencephalography[ulek´´trOensef´´ulog´rafE] Pronunciation Key, science of recording and analyzing the electrical activity of the brain. Electrodes, placed on or just under the scalp, are linked to an electroencephalograph, which is an amplifier connected to a mechanism that converts electrical impulses into the vertical movement of a pen over a sheet of paper. The recording traced by the pen is called an electroencephalogram (EEG). Readings may be obtained for a particular brain site by coupling a single electrode with an indifferent, or neutral, lead (monopolar technique) or between two areas of the brain through two independent electrodes (bipolar technique). The combination of impulses that are being recorded at any one time is called a montage.