Microstate segmentation of spontaneous multichannel EEG map series under diazepam and sulpiride.

Spontaneous multichannel brain electric field (EEG) map series of 20 seconds duration at 1, 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes after the injection of a single dose of diazepam (13 ss) or sulpiride (6 ss) were segmented into microstates of quasi-constant landscape but varying durations. Post-minus-preinjection difference values were computed for the six microstate variables: specific window size, duration, orientation, distance between windows, and location of center of gravity on the anterior-posterior and left-right axis. Differences between drugs were explored with ANOVAs. Microstate duration increased after sulpiride, and the location of the microstate center of gravity on the anterior-posterior axis moved to a more anterior position after diazepam. The results are in agreement with expectations based on measurements of patients' EEG microstates and with results using estimates of EEG model source locations in the frequency domain. Microstate segmentation appears to be a useful method for physiologically meaningful reduction of multichannel brain electric field data in psychopharmacology.