Scalp-recorded Bereitschaftspotential is the result of the activity of cortical and subcortical generators - a hypothesis

Conclusions: Our observations do not explain the generation of scalp-recorded BP by the contribution of either cortical or subcortical sources alone. Intracranial cortical recordings contradict a wide distribution of scalp-recorded BP. Widely synchronised cerebral electromagnetic activity can be recorded on the scalp. We presume that in the case of BP, the weak deep dipoles might reach the scalp, as they are produced by a relatively huge mass of subcortical neuronal tissue. We strongly suspect that scalp-recorded BP represents a summation of potentials that are generated simultaneously in several cortical as well as in several subcortical structures.