Dementia of the Alzheimer type: effects on the spontaneous EEG described by dipole sources

The present study on brain electrical activity in healthy subjects (n = 35) and patients suffering from dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT; n = 35) used Fast Fourier Transformation-dipole approximation to quantify differences between the two groups. DAT patients showed a shift of alpha and beta activity toward frontal brain regions. The amount of this shift correlated with the degree of dementia. The relative distribution of magnitude of activity between the frequency bands differed between DAT patients and control subjects. DAT patients had higher magnitudes in the slow frequency range, correlating with the severity of dementia, and lower ones in the alpha and beta range compared with findings in age-matched control subjects.