Analyzing the Brain

Brain Maps, Part 2: Analyzing the Brain (continued)

Comparing the EEG to Normal Brain Waves

After the EEG has been recorded, and the electrodes are all removed, a Neurologist studies the brain wave information. The brain waves are then compared to a specialized normative database that contains the records of thousands of people who have normal brain waves. This information is charted and graphed and turned into a “Map” of the brain for study by a Neurologist.

After finishing the process that puts the brain wave data into a Brain Map that shows the high and lows of the brain, the Neurologist analyzes the data and looks at areas of the brain that are considered abnormal in comparison to brainwave patterns of very normal and healthy people.  This comparison evaluation of the data determines the interactions between different parts of the brain and considers what is normal versus abnormal within the brain.  The brain is evaluated to see where the malfunctioning occurs, as to where the brain is over active, or is not active enough, and how the brain areas may be different from what they should be.

When reviewing the EEG Brain Map, there are a number of important areas to look at to see inappropriate brainwave activity. One of the first things to look for is the size of the waves. This may be seen in the chart below.

Black represents the waves that are normal sizes.

Red represents the waves that are too large.

Blue represents the waves that are too small.

Normal and Abnormal Brainwave Sizes

From the chart you will see large slow waves and small fast waves, and the correct size of each as it should be. When the wave activity is either too large in size, or is too small in size, the brain is malfunctioning away from normal, such as being easily agitated, being confused, or having a memory loss, and it needs to be returned back to a normal pattern.

When the wave size is abnormal, meaning it is either too large or too small, an imbalance occurs in the brain.   An example of this may be seen in the following Brain Map where the slow theta wave, shown in yellow, is too large.   So here theta is causing ADD attention problems, as in NOT paying attention, and NOT understanding things that are happening, and of course, this leads to causing problems with MEMORY.

The above map demonstrates that slow theta is creating the problem of not paying attention.   It is causing abnormal behavior to occur.  This is not only a condition of children, but adults often suffer from the same condition, of large slow waves that are interfering with the retaining of cognitive information and being able to remember and recall it later.