Relationship between power spectra of the awake EEG and psychomotor activity patterns measured by short-term actigraphy.
Actigraphy is a quantitative method for the measurement of motor activity. In the present study, actigraphy was used to examine psychomotor correlates of brain activity. Thirty-four psychiatric patients (17 males and 17 females) with different diagnoses participated in this investigation. Directly after EEG recording, motor activity was measured with a wrist actimeter for 15 min in patients in the sitting position. The EEG was quantified by spectrum analysis, and the power spectra as well as other EEG-derived variables were correlated with actigraphic parameters. Occipital and temporoparietal beta1 power was statistically significantly higher in patients with higher activity scores and lower in those with a high density of sleep (SB) or wake bouts (WB). A high density of SB or WB was also positively correlated with higher mean alpha power. Immobile phases measured by actigraphy were positively associated with occipital alpha and with frontal/frontopolar delta activity, preferentially on the side of the left hemisphere. Our results, while preliminary, suggest that short-term actigraphy may be apt to reflect central nervous system arousal.
Winkler
Dietmar
D
Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital for Psychiatry, Vienna, Austria. dietmar.winkler@univie.ac.at
Pjrek
Edda
E
Pezawas
Lukas
L
Presslich
Otto
O
Tauscher
Johannes
J
Kasper
Siegfried
S
D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*
D001569:Benzodiazepines