Premium
ONTOGENESIS OF SPONTANEOUS K‐COMPLEXES
Author(s) -
Metcalf David R.,
Mondale Jason,
Butler Francine K.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1971.tb00464.x
Subject(s) - psychology , individuation , developmental psychology , ontogeny , cognition , perception , repetition (rhetorical device) , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , psychoanalysis , genetics , biology , linguistics , philosophy
The “spontaneous” K‐complex, an EEG phenomenon, was studied with an explicit rating system. The spontaneous K‐complex can first be identified at age 6 months. Maturation of the K‐complex progresses rapidly for about the first 2 years after birth, then slows, albeit, with increased variability until age 5 years, progressing again until a relative plateau in K‐complex development is reached at about age 12. Four parameters are used in the rating system: individuation, vertex focus, repetition, and spread of the K‐complex. It is hypothesized that neurofunctional development underlying K‐complex ontogenesis may have referents observable in terms of a number of information‐processing parameters such as behavioral‐developmental, and cognitive‐perceptual levels of functioning during early childhood. It is speculated that the neurofunctional change implied by the early ontogenesis of K‐complexes indexes the approximate age of onset of the infant's capacity to experience dreams.