Brain Waves and Unit Discharge in Cerebral Cortex

Abstract

Using glass micro-pipette electrodes with inside diam. l-3[mu], discharges of individual neurons could be detected in the cerebral cortex of the cat. There was no correlation between such individual discharges and the slower rhythmic electrical potential oscillations recorded by the encephalograph. Anesthesia abolishes the individual but not the encephalographic responses. It is concluded that there is no evidence that the slow waves result from summations of individual neuron discharges, or that the slow waves are due to impulses circulating in reverberating closed chains of self-re-exciting units. The "brain waves" of the encephalographer may instead represent activity involving small interneurons and dendrites in the cortical matrix, oscillations which would have a definite effect upon neuronal excitability, but not dependent upon neuronal discharge.