Leonide Goldstein

Electroencephalographic laterality changes during human sexual orgasm.

Left and right parietal EEGs were recorded while seven subjects experienced sexual climax through self-stimulation. EEG data were quantified by continuous cumulated measurements of the integrated areas of EEG recording during successive 1-sec epochs. In eight out of 12 experiments, this measure revealed a statistically significant change in laterality. Controlled replications with two of the original subjects obviated the possibility that two potential sources of artifact (hand used for masturbation and gross body movements) accounted for the changes. While previous research has focused on vasomotor and myotonic indices of sexual response, this study demonstrates the significance of brain phenomena in sexual orgasm.

Age-dependent spontaneous EEG bursts in rats: effects of brain phosphatidylserine

During aging, male Sprague-Dawley rats display increasing frequency of bursts of seizure-like EEG patterns. They also have a decreased retention of passive avoidance response and a loss of spontaneous alternation in a Y maze. A study was made on the effects of chronic administration of phosphatidylserine in aged rats. It was found that BC-PS reduced by 65% the number of seizures, and by 70% their duration. It also facilitated retention of passive avoidance and of spontaneous alteration behavior. These results suggest that phosphatidylserine can affect electrophysiological and behavioral parameters in aged rats probably by counteracting age-related biochemical changes.

Cognitive style and interhemispheric differentiation in the EEG.

Abstract The field-dependence-independence cognitive style, that component of the psychological differentiation dimension which subsumes spatial ability and certain aspects of personality and social behavior, was found to be associated with variations between individuals in the extent of differentiation of EEG activity between the two hemispheres. Fluctuations over time in integrated EEG amplitudes recorde from the left and right hemispheres were more similar to each other (i.e. less differentiated) in individuals with a field-dependent cognitive style than in those who were field independent.

Protection by nicotine from behavioral disruption caused by reticular formation stimulation in the rat

Male Sprague-Dawley rats prepared with chronic electrodes in the mesencephalic reticular formation were trained to perform on a visual attention task. Short trains of electric current delivered to the reticular formation effectively blocked performance in a reversible and reproducible fashion. Subcutaneous administration of 100 mug/kg nicotine (as the base) served to attenuate the behavioral disruption caused by reticular stimulation. The suggestion that it is a nicotine-induced limbic system activation which antagonizes the behavioral disruption caused by electrically-induced reticular over-activation, is discussed.

Successful and unsuccessful university students: Quantitative hemispheric EEG differences

Quantitative measurements of EEG amplitudes were obtained on academically successful and unsuccessful university students during a 5 min, eyes closed, relaxed state. Integrations measured continuously the fully rectified amplitudes of brain waves cumulated over successive epochs of 5 s, regardless of the correlation of a wave to a particular frequency band. The poor academic students, as a group, displayed a significantly higher right/left variance ratio of the cumulated amplitudes at both the temporal and occipital sites than the academically successful group. Upon examining the histograms for these cumulated amplitudes, it was found that the unsuccessful students displayed a greater number of polymodal (non-Gaussian) distributions, particularly in the right hemisphere. These data, which resemble patterns often found in depression, suggest a relative disorganization of right hemispheric activity in the unsuccessful students, and within limits, seems related to the cognitive and/or emotional stability of these students.