Spectral EEG Characteristics in Patients with Neurological Spinal Cervical-Level Disorders: Dependence on the Temperament

Abstract

Effects of temperament as a constitutional feature of higher nervous activity on the spectral characteristics of ongoing EEG activity were examined in 54 patients with neurological spinal cervical-level disorders (cervicocranialgies, cervicalgies, and cervicobrachialgies). Four types of temperaments were classified in the examined patients, choleric (group ChT, n = 22), sanguine (ST, n = 10), melancholic (MT, n = 19), and phlegmatic (PhT, n = 3). Spectral analysis of EEGs showed that normalized powers of the θ rhythm in some cortical areas of patients of the PhT group were lower than those in patients of groups ChT, MT, and ST (P < 0.05). The most significant intergroup specificity of the EEG patterns was found in the normalized power of the β1 and β2 subrhythms. In patients of the MT and PhT groups, these indices were noticeably greater than those in ST and ChT subjects (P< 0.05 and P< 0.01, respectively). As was found, the power of β oscillations correlated with the temperament-related indices, negatively with the estimates of extra/introversion and positively with the neuroticism level (P < 0.05). Thus, temperament-related specificities are in a certain way reflected in the characteristics of mostly β activity and, therefore, are dependent on the level of activity of the cerebral reticular formation.