Summary
Synchrony ratios and voltage values in the EEG of schizophrenics were investigated as to their direct interrelationship. A synchrony ratio is the double number of simultaneous peaks divided by their total number in two channels, corrected by the average voltage, during a specified time interval.
The mean of differences between synchrony ratios of the frontooccipital area and the bi-occipital area of both hemispheres in the EEG of 28 schizophrenics differed significantly from that of 37 controls (abnormal records).
Several significant correlations for schizophrenics, controls and nonschizophrenic patients were obtained between different synchrony ratios as well as between synchrony ratios and voltage values. The most important correlation was found for the 51 schizophrenic patients with normal records between the right fronto-occipital and the bi-occipital synchrony ratios. There was no corresponding correlation, either for 96 controls or for 17 nonschizophrenic patients. For explanation of this phenomenon, the development of a new biological theory of schizophrenia is attempted.
The results were obtained by mechanical means and by avoidance of subject-induced EEG artifacts. The method described could make possible follow-up EEG studies of schizophrenics in relation to drug or other therapy.
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This paper is from the Veterans Administration Hospital, Canandaigua, New York.
It was read at the 121st annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in New York City, May 3–7, 1965.
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Bruck, M.A. EEGg—Synchrony and—Voltage in schizophrenia. Psych Quar 41, 683–697 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01575631
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01575631