Topographic Event-Related EEG Responses:
Relationship to Stimulus Relevance, Recall Performance, and Sleep Deprivation
M. B. Sterman, C. A. Mann, D. A. Kaiser and D. J. McGinty
Sepulveda Veterans Administration Medical Center and UCLA
Los Angeles, CA

Event-related EEG frequency response profiles, calculated from spectral analysis data obtained during a continuous performance task (CPT), were compared to evaluate 3 experimental dimensions. These included:1 ) Control vs Target stimuli, 2) Good vs Poor Performance in target recall, and 3) Normal vs Post-Sleep Deprivation recall performance. Event-related EEG profiles characterize the temporal modification of frequency patterns resulting from repetitive presentation of transient stimuli. The CPT required a manual response to 84 target recall letters which were the second of 3 paired letter-sets imbedded among 300 stimuli presented at 2 sec intervals over a 12 min trial. Updated FFT calculations, with a temporal resolution of 125 msec between 250 msec before to 1750 msec after stimulus presentation, were averaged and normalized for all sites and frequency bands across subjects for each condition. Seven partially overlapping 2 H!z frequency bands between 5-15 Hz were evaluated at 19 cortical recording sites. ANOVA and t tests, with the Huynh-Feldt and Bonferroni corrections, were used to evaluate temporal differences. Findings indicated specific and functionally meaningful differences between response profiles for each dimension.  

American Psychiatric Electrophysiological Association Conference in San Diego, 1997