PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONING OF AGED INDIVIDUALS WITH NORMAL AND ABNORMAL ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAMS

Abstract

A study of 223 functioning community volunteers, 60 years and over, without significant physical or psychiatric illness affecting central nervous system function, is reported. Utilizing eeg standards established for younger adults, 49% of the aged group presented normal records; 25% showed pure focal eeg disturbances; 15% diffuse cortical disturbances; and 11% an admixture of diffuse and focal disturbances. The focal disturbances were almost exclusively temporal in locus and largely (78%) left in lateralization. They presented predominantly anteriorly on the left. Psychological test results, derived from the Wechsler Intelligence Scales and the Fisher Maladjustment Scale drawn from Rorschach data, indicate no significant differences in psychological functioning for the various eeg groups. Possible implications of the lack of differences between psychological test data for the various eeg groups of community aged are briefly discussed. Some speculations are presented as to the origins of the temporal eeg foci and their left-sided lateralization.