ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a rationale for understanding intrinsic electroencephalography (EEG) rhythms, the ability to affect them by external or internal events, and implications for brain stimulation and peak performance training. The EEG is generated by dipole sources located in the cortex of the brain. Although the EEG is recorded from the scalp, it is actually known to be produced by specialized neurons known as pyramidal cells residing in the upper layers of the cortex. While all EEG signals generally consist of a mixture of frequencies, the dominant patterns and frequency content are readily recognized by eye. There is considerable interest in the analysis and interpretation of EEG rhythms using the concepts of nonlinear dynamics, also known as chaos theory. It is believed that, in contrast to typical EEG signals that are generated by postsynaptic potentials in pyramidal cells, slow cortical potential signals are at least partly generated by the glial cells that abundantly populate the cortex.
