HUMAN CORTICAL OSCILLATIONS - A NEUROMAGNETIC VIEW THROUGH THE SKULL

The mammalian cerebral cortex generates a variety of rhythmic oscillat ions, detectable directly from the cortex or the scalp. Recent non-inv asive recordings from intact humans, by means of neuromagnetometers wi th large sensor arrays, have shown that several regions of the healthy human cortex have their own intrinsic rhythms, typically 8-40 Hz in f requency, with modality- and frequency-specific reactivity. The conven tional hypotheses about the functional significance of brain rhythms e xtend from epiphenomena to perceptual binding and object segmentation. Recent data indicate that some cortical rhythms can be related to per iodic activity of peripheral sensor and effector organs.