Application of computer averaging techniques to the study of learned volitive heartbeat control.

Research on the acquisition of conscious cardiovascular control (Yellin 1984, 1986) utilized computer averaging of electrocardiographic (ECG) cycles to demonstrate and document precise, reliable and sustainable time-locking of heartbeat to external stimuli on demand. ECG cycles were treated as evoked responses, and successive epochs were summated, beginning with Zeitgeber-stimulus (ZS) onset, and with the duration of each epoch equaling the ZS's interstimulus interval. Cardiac synchrony was exhibited by event-modulated (time-locked) cardiac responses (EMCRs) and in average ECGs.

The effects of neuroleptics on attention in adolescent schizophrenics.

In contrast to studies of adult psychiatric patients, there was no striking difference between vigilance task performance by 11 newly diagnosed, previously untreated adolescent schizophrenics and that of 58 nonpsychotic adolescent comparison subjects. Neuroleptic treatment failed to improve the performance of the schizophrenic subjects. Sedation, a frequent side effect, was associated with significant prolongation of reaction time and an increase in error rate. Attentional characteristics of adolescent schizophrenics appear to resemble those of other disturbed children. Their response to neuroleptics appears to be limited and the deleterious effects of sedation on attention may well outweigh any clinical benefit attributable to sedation. Findings are discussed in terms of methodology and age-related characteristics.

Clinical comparison of thiothixene and thioridazine in schizophrenic adolescents.

Of 21 schizophrenic adolescents given thiothixene or thioridazine, many responded poorly or experienced sedation. Because sedation necessitates dose reductions, which limit therapeutic response, for schizophrenic adolescents high-potency neuroleptics may be preferable to the more sedating low-potency drugs.

The study of brain function impairment in fetal alcohol syndrome: some fruitful directions for research.

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is the most prevalent known preventable health hazard to the human fetus by a noxious agent. It is associated with impairments of the central nervous system that are expressed in the forms of mental retardation of varying severity, learning disabilities, attentional deficits and an increased vulnerability to stress. Results of psychophysiological studies of the effects of ethanol on the central nervous system are reviewed, with the aim of exploring how conclusions derived from them can serve as testable hypotheses in FAS research. The experimental methods used in such studies are examined for their applicability to FAS research. It is concluded that FAS research effort will benefit from the inclusion of psychophysiological studies.

Visual evoked potentials (VEP) recorded from the hippocampus of the chronically-implanted unanesthetized hedgehog.

Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded from the dorsal hippocampus of chronically-implanted unanesthetized European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus). The hippocampal VEP is less complex in appearance than the VEP recorded from the visual cortex. It consists of several distinct, reliably reproducible peaks and one distinct afterpotential (AP). The ease of recording and the reliability of the elicited electrophysiological responses recommended this primitive placental insectivore for use in comparative electrophysiological and psychophysiological studies.