Influence of sympathetic autonomic arousal on cortical arousal: implications for a therapeutic behavioural intervention in epilepsy.
Negative amplitude shifts of cortical potential are related to seizure activity in epilepsy. Regulation of the cortical potential with biofeedback has been successfully used to reduce the frequency of some patients' seizures. Although such behavioural treatments are increasingly popular as an alternative to pharmacotherapy, there has been no investigation of the mechanisms that might bridge the behavioural index of peripheral autonomic activity and the central regulation of arousal. Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) is a sensitive measurement of autonomic arousal and physiological state which reflects one's behaviour. Thus we investigated the effect of peripheral autonomic modulation on cortical arousal with the future intention of using GSR biofeedback as a therapeutic treatment for epilepsy. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15120749?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed