Neuromagnetic topography of photoconvulsive response in man.

The neuromagnetic method was applied to the study of photoconvulsive responses. The identification of specific magnetic field distributions over the scalp was achieved by; (a) a stimulation paradigm consisting of series of trains of flicker stimuli randomly presented to the epileptic patient, after eye closure, to get epileptic responses while avoiding seizures; (b) a novel procedure for data analysis, to select consistent responses. These patterns, when sufficiently stable in time and dipolar in shape, were used for source localization in the usual biomagnetic framework of the equivalent current dipole source representation. The results of this approach suggest that different specific cortical areas are repeatedly and randomly activated, involving mainly the frontal, occipital and temporal areas, often with a hemispheric prevalence.