ABSTRACT
The brainwave graph—the recording of electrical activity by the human brain by means of the electroencephalogram—was a sensation. Technical progress in science had made possible a technique of downright marvelous qualities. It was neither an invention for everyday convenience, nor a new entertainment medium; one could not even foresee any medical use for it. The technique, rather, promised to provide a scientific explanation for a very special aspect of human life: thinking. The electroencephalogram (EEG), the brainwave curve, became recognized scientific fact. Numerous research groups, in America, quickly began to specialize in the new method and produced EEG recordings by the meter, so to speak, as “brainwave factories.” Electroencephalography took shape alongside university neurophysiology. Electroencephalography had fixated on brainwaves as a script and thus related back to a long tradition of graphic procedures in physiology.
