Evening star., 1938-10-25

"A IHdH SelS mao approximately 1Our
thousandths of second before he
knows he is mad
A starting point for emotion waves
in the brain and precise measure
ment of their speed through cerebral
tissue were described before the Acad-
emy Of Physical Medicine, meeting at
the Willard Hotel today by DR.. Hudson
Hoagland of Clark University.
A few months ago DR.. Hoagland
first reported peculiar type Of brain
wave change which could be detected
by means of electrodes placed on the
skull, taking place when a person
undergoes some emotional reaction
such as anger The waves in which
this change took place presumably
were from the cerebral cortex of the
brain, the center of all conscious ac-
ton, and must have accompanied the
persons awarness of his emotion.
From the cerebral cortex of every
body two kinds of electrical brain
waves can be recorded-alpha waves
which occur at a rate of approximately
10 a second and beta waves with a
rate of more than 20 a second. In ad-
ditlon most persons have slower type
OF wave, the so-called delta" At
present 1t is rough classification for
all the electrical manifestations of
the cortex which are slower than 10
per second.
Typical Case Described.
DR.. Hoagland found that the magni-
tude of these deltas recorded from the
skulls of insane patients at the Massa-
chusetts State Hospital at Worcester
increased markedly and almost in
variably when the subject was made
angry. The history of such a patien:
was known, including those incidents
mention of which was bound to effect
him emotionally. The electrodes
would be attached to his skull and
the delta waves recorded during a
quiet conversation on some such sub
ject as the state of the weather. Then
the irritating subject was introduced
without warning, producing the in
crease in wave magnitude, together
with the change in facial expression
and the increase in heart beat almost
invariably accompanying anger.
The typical delusion of one such
patient, in a typical case described by
DR.. Hoagland today, was that he was
being prosecuted by the college band
of the University of Illinois. The
delta waves would change Immediately
when this subject was mentioned.
Another convenient type of subjects
used by DR.. Hoagland consisted of
persons applying at the hospital for
jobs. They would readily submit to
the tests in order to make good i'm
preston and would naturally react
strongly when their qualifications for
the jobs sought were questioned. In
both normal and insane, DR.. Hoagland
says, the anger changes almost in
variably appeared.
Psychologists have long held the
theory that an emotion starts sub
consciously in the sympathetic nervous
system, which acts automatically with
ont the Intervention of consciousness
and that the emotion of which one
is aware results from impulses to the
conscious layer of the brain set up by
these automatic acts Thus a man
sees a bear chasing him. The sight
stimulates the sympathetic system
which makes him run. Running starts
stimuli to the cerebral cortex which
result in the awareness of fear. The
man does not run because he is afraid.
He is afraid because he runs.
Brain Waves Recorded.
Experiments with animals at Johns
Hopkins University some time ago
demonstrated that there was very
important center for the gathering
and relaying of sympathetic nervous
system impulses in a mass of cells
known as the hypothalamus, near the
front of the brain and buried under
the cerebral cortex Adopting tech
nique developed at the University of
Chicago DR.. Hoagland found that an
electrode could be placed within about
a quarter of an inch of this hy-
pothalamus by running a metal spike
through the nose and nasal passages
so that it rested directly against the
cranlal bone protecting this part of
the brain.
When this is done by an able sur
geon, it is free of danger and does not
cause much discomfort. DR.. Hoag-
land had it done on himself several
times before subjecting any of the
insane patients to it. BY means of
such an electrode it was possible to
record the brain waves coming direct
ly from the hypothalamus itself.
DR.. Hoagland found that within an
inappreciable time after an anger
stimulus was given. the massive delta
waves began to appear from the
hypothalamas. Simultaneous meas
urements from the skull showed that
they appeared in the cerebral cortex
almost precisely four-t thousands of a
second later The two sets would
almost precisely synchronize with each
other except for this almost infinitesi-
NAL lapse of time.
Calculation shows that this is the
nerve impulse to travel along a nerve
fiber the approximate six inches be-
tween the two parts of the brain pro-
viding that it crossed two synapses. or
nerve relay stations on the way. A
synapse is point at which an i'm
pulse must jump from one nerve to
another. Actually the two endings are
in close contact, but the impulse must
halt at the end of one nerve while it
secretes chemical substance which
acts as bridge to its next neighbor.