[The normal neonatal EEG (author's transl)]

Polygraphic examinations (EEG, EKG, electrooculogram and recording of respiration) were carried out on 120 full term healthy newborns. EEG recordings taken in wakefulness states showed a low-voltage background activity with a noticeable share of 8 c/sec. waves. The latter occurred in 12.5% of the examined newborn infants in more regular groups, lasting from 3--6 seconds, and reached an amplitude of up to 20--25 muV. The EEG sleep recordings differed from case to case. Certain identical EEG-patterns could be observed during active as well as during quiet sleep. Typical "tracés alternants" occurred in 63.4% of the recordings, as a rule in the quiet sleep phase. In nearly 1/3 of these cases they contained isolated fine spikes or sharp waves of variable localisation. In 70% of the sleep recordings bilateral fronto-central paroxysmal steeper transients and in 6.7% spindly about 14 c/sec. wave groups were observed, mainly during active sleep phases. In nearly 20% of the 52 newborns where the centro-temporal electrodes were connected transversally, single sharp and slow waves were recorded. They were localized resp. more pronounced in the right hemisphere. They did not appear in any of the 68 cases in which the electrodes were connected longitudinally only.