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🔌Overview

Intracranial EEG · Electrocorticography and depth electrodes — millimetre-scale human recordings that reveal high-frequency dynamics surgery can see.

Reviewed 2026-08·Sources & research·Methodology·Media credits

At a glance
Score intensity

Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.

Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology

Quick answers

What is intracranial EEG iEEG/ECoG?

Electrodes on or in the brain during clinical mapping — millimetre-scale timing that scalp EEG blurs. Teaching description of published methods.

When did Penfield-era cortical stimulation map speech?

Mid-20th-century Montreal work made awake mapping famous. Modern grids and stereo-EEG continue the classroom story without copying an OR checklist.

Is this a guide to implant surgery or dosing?

No. Educational methods atlas. Not a diagnosis, implant protocol, or medication dose.

What can iEEG resolve that scalp methods smear?

When and where populations engage during perception, speech, memory or movement — at scales scalp EEG averages away.

Research score 82 — a clinic ranking?

No. Editorial 0-100 in this methods field. Compare with EEG, fMRI and MEG neighbours.

Why do overview pages get clicks?

They name ECoG sites and cortical surface mapping early. Keep reading Overview, Anatomy, Function; do not self-schedule a procedure.

Start with this section - Overview

iEEG sits at the intersection of epilepsy surgery and cognitive neuroscience: clinical necessity enables millimetre–millisecond human data.

This page maps promises and hard limits without selling consumer brain implants.

Pillars

Clinical mapping

Localise seizure onset and eloquent cortex.

High-frequency dynamics

High-gamma and ripple-band windows onto population activity.

Task neuroscience

Perception, language and memory paradigms in surgical patients.

Ethical constraints

Sparse coverage, consent and no healthy-volunteer implant.

Key facts

Spatial scale

Millimetres near cortical generators.

Temporal bandwidth

Kilohertz sampling captures high-gamma.

ECoG vs SEEG

Surface grids versus depth trajectories.

Clinical first

Research piggybacks on indicated monitoring.

Sparse sampling

Electrodes follow surgical plans, not whole-brain maps.

Decoding limits

Task-linked signals ≠ reading private thoughts.

Pair with Epilepsy, Language, Motor Control and Methods neighbours.

Sources & research

  1. Promises and limitations of human intracranial electroencephalographyParvizi J; Kastner S · 2018 · Nature NeurosciencePromises and limits of human iEEG.DOI
  2. High-frequency neural activity and human cognition: past, present and possible future of intracranial EEG researchLachaux JP; et al. · 2012 · Progress in NeurobiologyHigh-frequency activity and cognition review.DOI
  3. High-frequency gamma oscillations and human brain mapping with electrocorticographyCrone NE; et al. · 2006 · Progress in Brain ResearchHigh-gamma mapping with ECoG.DOI

Media credits

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