Abstracts Psychology

Examining daily quantitative electroencephalographic (qEEG), psychophysical and antropometric measures over a one week period

by Andrew P Lapointe

The consequences of concussive injuries have been considered reversible, trivial, or permanent depending upon the perspective of the professional and the precision of the measurement tool. Saturated (daily) quantitative electroencephalographic (qEEG) measurements for 7 days after a sports-related concussive injury and for 7 days about 8 months later revealed conspicuous changes in power measurements in specific frequency bands over the impact site as well as within specific, likely contrecoup, areas. The fluctuations with time may accommodate the contradiction of results for concussive-EEG effects within the medical and scientific literature. Normative qEEG profiles for 20 normal participants collected daily for 7 days indicated extraordinarily strong intra-individual consistencies in power metrics and suggest that variability from easily established normative quantifications of topographic EEG activity could differentially discern concussive effects. The concordance of shifts in mood states with the power for relevant frequencies over expected regions of the cerebrum classically associated with different moods supports the validity of the subjective experience-brain location coupling and the direct contribution of subtle alterations in EEG power within certain frequency bands and cerebral regions to the types of mood.