UC Berkeley

Measured oscillatory EEG bursts from 64 electrodes implanted on the olfactory bulbs of rabbits. Oscillatory bursts that occurred before and during presentation of odorant conditioned stimuli (CSs) were selected in brief segments. Comparisons between the 64 traces and their spectra showed that despite amplitude differences between channels, every burst had a common waveform over the entire array. The spectra showed 2–5 distinct peaks in each burst. Two types of burst were identified. Those with dominant frequencies greater than 55 Hz had 1 narrow dominant spectral peak and reproducible spatial patterns of its amplitude within subgroups of bursts relating to control and odorant CS conditions. Those with dominant frequencies less than 55 Hz were disorderly, their spectra were broad, and their spatial patterns of amplitude did not reproduce within subgroups. A behavioral assay showed that the high- and not the low-frequency bursts contained odor-specific information.