Practice Test GeeksEEG - Electroencephalography Practice Test
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Artifact Identification Flashcards

7 cards from real EEG practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Artifact Identification flashcards as text

  1. A rhythmic artifact at exactly 60 Hz appearing uniformly across all electrodes is most consistent with:

    Answer: AC line noise

    60 Hz AC line noise appears as a uniform, rhythmic interference at power line frequency across all or many electrodes.

  2. Which artifact would most likely appear as a high-amplitude, low-frequency deflection time-locked to the R-wave on ECG?

    Answer: Pulse artifact

    Pulse artifact is caused by scalp vessel pulsations under electrodes and appears as slow deflections synchronous with the cardiac cycle.

  3. A technologist notices intermittent square-wave transients isolated to a single electrode that disappear when the electrode impedance is rechecked and re-gelled. This is most consistent with:

    Answer: Electrode pop

    Electrode pops are caused by intermittent loss of contact or impedance instability at a single electrode and typically resolve with re-application.

  4. Slow, sinusoidal, high-amplitude waves that wax and wane over frontal electrodes in a drowsy, diaphoretic patient are most characteristic of:

    Answer: Sweat artifact

    Sweat artifact produces slow (< 1 Hz), large-amplitude sinusoidal waves predominantly over frontal regions due to sweat gland activity.

  5. An artifact appearing as a rhythmic, 1–3 Hz broad, high-amplitude slow-wave pattern that correlates with the patient's assisted ventilation rate is called:

    Answer: Ventilator artifact

    Ventilator artifact is caused by rhythmic chest and head movement from mechanical ventilation, producing slow waves at the ventilation rate.

  6. In a referential montage, an artifact that appears identical in amplitude and polarity on ALL channels simultaneously most likely originates from:

    Answer: The reference electrode

    When artifact appears on all channels equally in a referential montage, it is localized to the common reference electrode, not the active electrodes.

  7. High-frequency, irregular bursts of activity seen maximally over temporal and frontal electrodes during a patient interview are most consistent with:

    Answer: Chewing/jaw muscle artifact

    Chewing produces high-frequency myogenic artifact maximal over temporal regions due to masseter and temporalis muscle proximity.