Topography of the EEG: survey and prospects

In the first part of the paper the purpose and aims of topographical approach to the understanding of the EEG are set out. Since the EEG is not identical with the electrical activity recorded directly from its generator layer, the neocortex, topographic methods applied to the human EEG recorded from the scalp are somewhat less informative than in experimental work on the exposed brain. The paper gives a brief historical survey of the most essential attempts in this field throughout the history of electroencephalography. After this, a few promising methods now in use, and their possible fields of application, are demonstrated. The paper ends with a view of the future.