Reliability of topographic quantitative EEG amplitude in healthy late-middle-aged and elderly subjects

Reliabilities of quantitative measures of absolute and relative EEG amplitudes were assessed in healthy older adults under the eyes closed (n = 46) and eyes opened (n = 45) conditions. For the theta, alpha, beta 1, and beta 2 bands, reliabilities of 28 scalp derivations were stable over the 4.5 month test interval. Reliabilities of delta were lower. When appropriate transformations were applied, the reliabilities of absolute EEG amplitude measures tended to exceed those of relative measures. There were not, however, striking differences in reliabilities under the eyes closed, as compared to eyes opened condition. We concluded that when coupled with the criterion of interpretability, the generally higher reliabilities of absolute, as opposed to relative, amplitude measures render them preferable in clinical research.