Abstract

In an attempt to detect electroencephalographic (EEG) changes associated with characteristic clinical signs and symptoms of schizophrenia, power spectra were derived from scalp EEGs of schizophrenic patients recorded by telemetry during free behaviour on their psychiatric wards. Power spectra from EEG epochs coincident with psychomotor blocking, stereotyped automatism or hallucinations were compared with spectra derived during periods of relatively normal behaviour, during performance of specific tasks and spectra from control subjects. Ramp spectra, characterised by a smooth decline in power from lowest to highest frequencies, previously found in conjunction with subcortical spike activity of epilepsy were not found in any control subject, but appeared in spectra from schizophrenic patients during catatonic episodes, hallucinatory periods and visual checking. Schizophrenic patients also had more slow activity and less alpha activity in their EEGs than normal control subjects.