Electroencephalogram (EEG)

I teach neurodiagnostics to the second year med students every year, giving them essentially an introduction to electroencephalography (EEG) as applied to the study of epilepsy, sleep disorders and other neurodiagnostic procedures. For instruction purposes, I like to hook up an old school EEG machine from GRASS Instruments complete with pen and ink recording to a volunteer who wishes to see their brain waves while they open and close their eyes, clench their facial muscles, look around and make mathematical calculations. There is lots to see from the brain as it generates neuro-electric activity and its pretty rewarding to see the students respond to the real-time dramatic changes in electroencephalogram.

I donated the equipment to the School of Medicine a number of years ago which saved the school some $40,000 or so, but these systems are now getting old and the recording ink and paper is getting harder to find. At some point I might either have to abandon this system and the teaching benefits it provides or find the funds to replace it with a newer, digital system that is replacing the old pen and ink based systems.

This year, Rachel Taylor, a 2nd year medical student, volunteered along with James Tucker, our MD/PhD student, to have me hook up a bunch of electrodes to their heads and demonstrated their magnificent brains to their colleagues in the class of 2010. Thanks folks.