[Application in psychogeriatrics of new technics for evaluating cerebral electrical activity]

During the past few years, considerable attention has been given to the application of quantitative EEG techniques in the assessment of brain function. With the progress of minicomputers, it has become possible to obtain objective and abundant information on two electrophysiological phenomena connected to the brain function: spontaneous EEG, associated with the intrinsic brain organisation, and evoked potentials, that might provide a physiologic index of sensory, perceptual and cognitive processes. A lot of works using the quantitative EEG analysis and evoked potentials technique for the evaluation of normal and pathologic ageing are reviewed. It results that this approach may not only contribute to a better knowledge of the mechanisms of senescence, but also may have an impact on clinical practice. It is concluded that the new quantitative techniques for the evaluation of brain electrical activity are far more promising than the conventional EEG in psychogeriatry.