The Berger rhythm: potential changes from the occipital lobes in man, by E.D. Adrian and B.H.C. Matthews (From the Physiological Laboratory, Cambridge). Brain 1934: 57; 355-385.

Abstract

In a series of papers dating from 1929, Hans Berger has described ‘a rhythmic oscillation of potential at a frequency of 10 cycles per second … detected in the human subject by electrodes applied to the head … present when the subject lies quietly with eyes closed and disappearing when attention is fully occupied’. Because Dr Berger finds that the waves are larger if needles reaching the periosteum lie over foramina in the skull rather than the intact cranium, he concludes that this remarkable effect derives from the cerebral cortex, and that it reflects a fundamental activity of the brain. But there are unresolved issues, and Professor (Lord) Adrian and Dr (Sir Bryan) Matthews intend to repeat Berger’s experiments: to show whether or not these potentials do indeed arise from the cortex; to reveal their nature and the structures from which they arise; to characterize the type of activity that they represent; and to reconcile the emerging results with their prior failure to record comparable activity from the exposed surface of the animal cortex. ‘To anticipate … we regard the effect as due to spontaneous rhythmic activity of … cortical cells in … the occipital lobe … [that] beat synchronously when … undisturbed … but visual activity or wide-spread non-visual activity in the brain breaks up the rhythm by exposing the cells to a mosaic of excitations which makes synchronous action impossible … localization is the only important point on which our results seem to differ [from Dr Berger].’ Their method is to detect potentials using lint-covered squares of copper gauze soaked in saline. These make good contact with the scalp and, contained by a tight head bandage, are not inferior to the implanted needle electrodes used by Berger. The subject remains quiet and physically relaxed during the recording. The …