Regardless of the location, orientation, number, or extent of the regions of active neural tissue, a CSD topography provides a conservative description of the neuronal generator patterns contributing to scalp-recorded EEG. CSD provides insights into the anatomical origins of the scalp potentials, while avoiding the pitfalls of overinterpretation common to inverse models. A CSD topography also identifies essential properties that must be reproduced by putative inverse solutions, particularly when the sharp gradients associated with field closure are suspected. CSD methodology thereby provides a global empirical and biophysical context for generator localization, spanning scales from cortical laminae to scalp topographies.
