Advances in evoked potential recording. A historical review

A brief survey is exposed on the main advances in evoked potential recording techniques, since Caton's paper in 1875. The Berger first EEG records and the Adrian's studies on alpha rhythm, the stimulus-evoked alpha blocking, the K-complex and the vertex response, the effect of attention on the early vertex negativity are briefly outlined. Furtherly the P300 components and stimulus discrimination are remembered. The superimposition and averaging techniques have led to the latest developments in brain evoked potential recordings until to the subcortical far-field auditory and somatosensory recordings. The motor potentials and the latest results with electrical and magnetic coil cortex stimulation are shortly reported.