The relationship of degree of electroencephalographic abnormality to the distribution of Wechsler‐Bellevue scores

Abstract

Criteria related to the degree of eeg abnormality were used to divide 179 brain-damaged patients into 4 groups. A control group was also employed. The group performances on the Wechsler-Bellevue scale and Halstead''s impairment index were obtained and compared statistically. The results indicate that a relationship exists between the degree of eeg abnormality and performance on certain psychologic measures. Halstead''s impairment index categorized the control group as clearly better than the experimental groups and did this much more distinctly than the Wechsler-Bellevue scale. The impairment index also classified the brain-damaged group with normal cog''s with the groups with abnormal eeg''s, thus suggesting its greater sensitivity to the organic condition of the brain as compared with the eeg. However, it should be emphasized that the brain-damaged group with normal eeg''s had a relatively larger proportion of patients with multiple sclerosis, which is a condition that is less likely to be accompanied by abnormal eeg''s than are the other diagnostic categories. The criteria for comparing our groups and the characteristics of our patients emphasize the necessity of imposing proper limitations on generalization of results.