Berger and the Breakthrough: A Centennial Celebration of the Human Electroencephalogram

A century ago, it was a challenge for neuroscientists to decipher the mysteries of human brain functioning until German psychiatrist Hans Berger discovered what is now one of the most well-known electrophysiological recording techniques to examine brain function, EEG. He is rightly regarded as the Father of The Electroencephalogram (EEG), since he performed the first human electroencephalogram in 1924. Berger attempted to investigate the connection between psychology and physiology and to solve the "psychic energy" enigma. Despite turbulence in his professional life and slow progress in his research, he persevered and succeeded in giving humankind an indispensable technique that is now widely used in clinical and research practice. His publications on EEG provide valuable insight into our current understanding of several of the brain's responses to physiological and pathological phenomena. In July 2024, it will be 100 years since Berger recorded the first human EEG, and that calls for a celebration among EEG researchers, neuroscientists, psychiatrists, and neurologists. This article presents a brief account of his journey and commemorates Hans Berger's contributions to the field of neurodiagnostics.

Meanings of Waves: Electroencephalography and Society in Mexico City, 1940-1950

Argument This paper focuses on the uses of electroencephalograms (EEGs) in Mexico during their introductory decade from 1940 to 1950. Following Borck (2006), I argue that EEGs adapted to fit local circumstances and that this adjustment led to the consolidation of different ways of making science and the emergence of new objects of study and social types. I also maintain that the way EEGs were introduced into the institutional networks of Mexico entangled them in discussions about the objective and juridical definitions of social groups, thereby preempting concerns about their technical and epistemic limitations. This ultimately enabled the use of EEGs as normative machines and dispositifs. To this end, the paper follows the arrival of EEGs and the creation of institutional networks then analyzes the extent to which the styles of thinking behind the uses of EEGs and attempts to reify a notion of normal electrical brain behavior-particularly by applying EEGs to a community of Otomí Indians-correlated with the difficulties of defining the socio-anthropological notions that articulated legal and disciplinary projects of the time. Finally, it unveils the shortcomings of alternative attempts to define a brain model and to resist the production of ontological determinations.

Pharmaco-EEG Studies in Animals: A History-Based Introduction to Contemporary Translational Applications

Current research on the effects of pharmacological agents on human neurophysiology finds its roots in animal research, which is also reflected in contemporary animal pharmaco-electroencephalography (p-EEG) applications. The contributions, present value and translational appreciation of animal p-EEG-based applications are strongly interlinked with progress in recording and neuroscience analysis methodology. After the pioneering years in the late 19th and early 20th century, animal p-EEG research flourished in the pharmaceutical industry in the early 1980s. However, around the turn of the millennium the emergence of structurally and functionally revealing imaging techniques and the increasing application of molecular biology caused a temporary reduction in the use of EEG as a window into the brain for the prediction of drug efficacy. Today, animal p-EEG is applied again for its biomarker potential - extensive databases of p-EEG and polysomnography studies in rats and mice hold EEG signatures of a broad collection of psychoactive reference and test compounds. A multitude of functional EEG measures has been investigated, ranging from simple spectral power and sleep-wake parameters to advanced neuronal connectivity and plasticity parameters. Compared to clinical p-EEG studies, where the level of vigilance can be well controlled, changes in sleep-waking behaviour are generally a prominent confounding variable in animal p-EEG studies and need to be dealt with. Contributions of rodent pharmaco-sleep EEG research are outlined to illustrate the value and limitations of such preclinical p-EEG data for pharmacodynamic and chronopharmacological drug profiling. Contemporary applications of p-EEG and pharmaco-sleep EEG recordings in animals provide a common and relatively inexpensive window into the functional brain early in the preclinical and clinical development of psychoactive drugs in comparison to other brain imaging techniques. They provide information on the impact of drugs on arousal and sleep architecture, assessing their neuropharmacological characteristics in vivo, including central exposure and information on kinetics. In view of the clear disadvantages as well as advantages of animal p-EEG as compared to clinical p-EEG, general statements about the usefulness of EEG as a biomarker to demonstrate the translatability of p-EEG effects should be made with caution, however, because they depend on the particular EEG or sleep parameter that is being studied. The contribution of animal p-EEG studies to the translational characterisation of centrally active drugs can be furthered by adherence to guidelines for methodological standardisation, which are presently under construction by the International Pharmaco-EEG Society (IPEG).

How we may think: Imaging and writing technologies across the history of the neurosciences

In the neurosciences, two alternative regimes of visualization can be differentiated: anatomical preparations for morphological images and physiological studies for functional representations. Adapting a distinction proposed by Peter Galison, this duality of visualization regimes is analyzed here as the contrast between an imaging and a writing approach: the imaging approach, focusing on mimetic representations, preserving material and spatial relations, and the writing approach as used in physiological studies, retaining functional relations. After a dominance of morphological images gathering iconic representations of brains and architectural brain theories, the advent of electroencephalography advanced writing approaches with their indexical signs. Addressing the brain allegedly at its mode of operation, electroencephalography was conceived as recording the brain's intrinsic language, extending the writing approach to include symbolic signs. The availability of functional neuroimaging signaled an opportunity to overcome the duality of imaging and writing, but revived initially a phrenological conflation of form and function, suppressing the writing approach in relation to imaging. More sophisticated visualization modes, however, converted this reductionism to the ontological productivity of social neuroscience and recuperated the theorizing from the writing approach. In light of the ongoing instrumental mediations between brains, data and theories, the question of how we may think, once proposed by Vannevar Bush as a prospect of enhanced human-machine interaction, has become the state of affairs in the entanglements of instruments and organic worlds.

[Professor Ivan Tarchanoff]

Napoleon Cybulski, generally recognised the father of Polish physiology, was first a student and later an assistant of Tarchanoff at the Chair of Medical and Surgical Physiology of the Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy in St Petersburg. A Professor of the Jagiellonian University himself (whose nomination, by the way, was supported among others on the recommendations from Tarchanoff), Cybulski was a co-discoverer of adrenaline, and one of the first researchers in the world to make an EEG recording. Tarchanoff's ties with Poland are far greater than his biographers would admit. He was more than just a teacher and a friend of Cybulski: after being dismissed from the Academy in St Petersburg , the scientist not only used to visit Kraków but published his scientific works here, built a house in the vicinity of the city, and here he died on 24th August 1908. His wife, Helena Antokolska-Tarchanoff was active in Kraków's artistic circles. Hints suggesting that Tarchanoff planned to spend the rest of his life in what at the time was Galicia are plenty.

Polysomnography: understanding this technology's past might guide future developments

Hans Berger published the first human electroencephalograph (EEG) recording in 1924 [1]. He used a device called the string galvanometer to record brain waves on a light-sensitive plate. The fluctuating potential difference from the scalp oscillated at eight to 13 cycles per second (alpha rhythm) when an individual closed his or her eyes and remained relaxed but awake. Berger noted that when a person fell asleep, the alpha rhythm disappeared. Amazingly, to this day, the alpha rhythm disappearance remains the primary marker for defining sleep onset. Years later, Carl Ludwig invented a kymograph (the ?wave writer?) that used a stylus to record electroencephalographic oscillation on a rotating drum. Later, an alternative approach evolved so that the brain wave recordings were inked onto a roll or fan-folded continuous paper strip moving at a constant speed. Mechanical engineers gradually improved the drive mechanisms for moving paper by using rotating sprockets, pinch rollers, and pressure plates. Gear mechanisms were also incorporated to permit speed changes.

Adolf Beck: a forgotten pioneer in electroencephalography

Adolf Beck, born in 1863 at Cracow (Poland), joined the Department of Physiology of the Jagiellonian University in 1880 to work directly under the supervision of the prominent physiology professor, Napoleon Cybulski. Following his suggestion, Beck started experimental studies on the electrical brain activity of animals, especially in response to sensory stimulation. Beck placed electrodes directly on the surface of brain to localize brain potentials that were evoked by sensory stimuli. He observed spontaneous fluctuations in the electrical brain activity and noted that these oscillations ceased after sensory stimulation. He published these findings concerning the electrical brain activity, such as spontaneous fluctuations, evoked potentials, and desynchronization of brain waves, in 1890 in the German language Centralblatt für Physiologie. Moreover, an intense polemic arose between physiologists of that era on the question of who should claim being the founder of electroencephalography. Ultimately, Richard Caton from Liverpool showed that he had performed similar experiments in monkeys years earlier. Nevertheless, Beck added new elements to the nature of electrical brain activity. In retrospect, next to Richard Caton, Adolf Beck can be regarded, together with Hans Berger who later introduced the method to humans, as one of the founders of electroencephalography. Soon after his success, Beck got a chair at the Department of Physiology of the University at Lemberg, now Lviv National Medical University.

An old hypothesis and new tools: Alfred Fessard's approach to the problem of consciousness

In 1954, a symposium was held in Canada on "Brain Mechanisms and Consciousness." It was a time for the promotion of international and interdisciplinary scientific cooperation, of new technological expectation, and of speculating about complex human behavior. Alfred Fessard's lecture on "Mechanisms of Nervous Integration and Conscious Experience" was one of the outstanding presentations, rich in critical analysis of the then available experimental data and in working hypothesis proposals. Reading the concept expressed by Fessard, it was found that several of his ideas had anticipated data obtained in modern research with new technologies.

Ellen R. Grass lecture: Back to the future: from grass roots to microchips

The study of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and other clinical neurophysiology (CNP) measurement tools has evolved over the last 70 years. In this evolutionary process, Ellen Grass and many professional technologists along the way have been instrumental in the translation of new developments in CNP technology to clinical utility. Technological developments in long-term EEG/video intensive care unit (ICU) monitoring, intraoperative monitoring, high frequency oscillation (HFO) recordings, automated signal analysis tools, seizure prediction devices, and the study of implanted intracranial recording and stimulation devices will improve our understanding of how the nervous system works. Improved understanding and translation of this evolving technology for improved patient care and outcomes remains the ultimate goal of such endeavors. Professional organizations such as the American Board of Registration of Electroencephalographic and Evoked Potential Technologists (ABRET) and the American Society of Electroneurodiagnostic Technologists (ASET) must continue to serve the CNP community and society to guide the application of this technology with an emphasis on providing information, guidelines on its use, and setting standards of professionalism. Any prior prediction of the demise of CNP technology has been greatly exaggerated. Quite the opposite has occurred, considering that the humble origins of vacuum tube powered Grass EEG machines will eventually yield to intracranial implanted microchip based recording and stimulation devices; the future appears bright for our profession.

The Moscow Colloquium on Electroencephalography of Higher Nervous Activity and its impact on international brain research

Late 1950s was a period of recognition of Russian neurophysiology by international neuroscience community and vice versa. This process of "opening windows in both directions" might be illustrated by the story of The Moscow Colloquium on Electroencephalography of Higher Nervous Activity. The Colloquium took place on October 6-11, 1958 at the House of Scientists in Moscow. It was organized by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR under the initiative of the Institute for Higher Nervous Activity and focused on (a) EEG correlates of cortical excitation and inhibition; (b) electrophysiological study of different brain structures and their role in conditioned reflexes; and (c) EEG of higher nervous activity in humans. At the final session it was suggested to launch an International Year for the Study of the Brain and to ask UNESCO for international coordination of brain research. This resulted into the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) founded in 1960. This article is based on unpublished records of international contacts of Soviet neurophysiologists and organization of the Moscow Colloquium from the Archive of Russian Academy of Science (ARAN), reports in Soviet periodicals, publications in obscure Festschriften, etc.

[Incursion into bioelectromagnetism]

The term of bioelectromagnetism include electromagnetosenzitive processes at the fundamental interaction of energetical fields with the matter. The alive matter has a dynamical, chemical and energetics structure, but above all, an intense informational activity. The bioelectromagnetism was gradually discovered and understood throughout history of humanity. J. Bernstein defined the cell's bioelectricity, Wagner calculated electrical conductivity and permeability of cells, starting from the Maxwell's field equations, others discovered "mitogenetic radiation" or "dark luminescence" or "ultraweak bioluminescence" and F. A. Popp founded the biophotons theory. On the other hand, Hirata and Nakatani finded points with different electrical conductivity on the surface of the skin and Voll invented the system of electro dermal testing. The practical applications of the bioelectromagnetism are the medical devices based on bioresonance, useful in diagnosis and treatment, as shown in the 17 studies (902 patients) published in 1999-2006.

History of ASET: the first fifty years--1959 to 2009

In 1959 a group of EEG technicians along with the support of electroencephalographers founded and chartered the American Society of Electroencephalographic Technicians (ASET). For the past fifty years, volunteers and staff have worked to make ASET the premier professional membership organization for electroneurodiagnostic technologists. The volunteers included officers, board members, committee chairs, faculty, authors of articles and handouts, vendors, and members assisting in all areas such as membership recruitment. This article is just the beginning of chronicling, sharing, and savoring ASET's history. Beginning in 2010, an article per year will review and describe a five-year span of ASET history including the changes and expansion in technology. We need to preserve the memories, the ideas, and the driving forces to truly appreciate and understand where we are today.

Simultaneous recording of EEG and BOLD responses: A historical perspective

Electromagnetic fields as measured with electroencephalogram (EEG) are a direct consequence of neuronal activity and feature the same timescale as the underlying cognitive processes, while hemodynamic signals as measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are related to the energy consumption of neuronal populations. It is obvious that a combination of both techniques is a very attractive aim in neuroscience, in order to achieve both high temporal and spatial resolution for the non-invasive study of cognitive brain function. During the last decade a number of research groups have taken up this challenge. Here, we review the development of the combined EEG-fMRI approach. We summarize the main data integration approaches developed to achieve such a combination, discuss the current state-of-the-art in this field and outline challenges for the future success of this promising approach.