Article: qEEG Brain Research at DePaul University (Jason, Zinn) by Megan Doherty

The hidden ME too: 100,000 people in Illinois could suffer from debilitating disease

https://www.chicagoreader.com/chica...itis-me-chicago-research/Content?oid=47619823

This article published on the Chicago Reader (US) website has an unfortunately unspecific and "ignorable" title. Nevertheless, it contains some worthwhile information regarding the neuro-imaging research being done by Leonard Jason, Mark Zinn and Marcie Zinn at DePaul University.

"Jason and fellow DePaul researchers Marcie Zinn and Mark Zinn are conducting neuroimaging studies by taking the raw EEG data—the squiggles on a page you'd see at the doctor's office—and feeding them into a program that applies complex math using a method called exact low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (eLORETA). The resulting quantitative EEG (or qEEG) traces brain activity down to the source, on a millisecond timescale.

In ME, the balance between local clustering and global processing is thrown off, resulting in significantly fewer neurons being recruited to perform a function than normal, and the neurons that are engaged aren't given enough time to do their jobs, the DePaul research has found. ME patients' brains also have reduced alpha-wave activity—associated with being alert but relaxed—and more delta waves, which typically occur during deep sleep. If your frontal cortex is hanging out in delta, this suggests your arousal level will be lower and higher cortical functions will be suppressed, which the Zinns noted in a 2016 study in the journal NeuroRegulation. It feels like I'm awake, but my brain hit the snooze button."

I paid to have a qEEG test done privately in Canada several years ago. My test identified the alpha/delta wave abnormalities described in the article, but of course didn't apply the complex programming being used in this research.

 

i'll be interested to see this study when published. I sure feel like my brain is only half-aroused!

 

So, I didn't understand it - what do theta waves mean when being awake?
I'm interested, too.