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Auditory Brainstem Recovery Processes From Birth to Adulthood
Author(s) -
Salamy A.,
McKean C. M.,
Pettett G.,
Mendelson T.
Publication year - 1978
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.1469-8986.1978.tb01367.x
Subject(s) - brainstem , stimulus (psychology) , psychology , scalp , audiology , stimulation , developmental psychology , neuroscience , anatomy , medicine , cognitive psychology
Two treatments‐by‐subjects with repeated measures experiments were performed to determine maturational changes in the recovery processes along the classical auditory pathway. Subjects ranged in age from birth to adulthood. Brainstem evoked potentials (BEPs) recorded from the surface of the scalp were obtained at stimulus presentation rates of 10–40/sec for all subjects. In addition, some newborns and adults received repetition rates of 50–80/sec. The amplitude and latency of selected BEP components which reflect discrete levels of brainstem integration, were measured. At stimulus rates of 10–40/sec strong age and rate effects evinced but significant interactions emerged only for those waves representative of rostral brainstem activity. A test of trend revealed that the newborns, in comparison with all other age groups, displayed slower recovery to increasing rates of stimulation (10–40/sec). The differential response of the individual BEP components conforms to the known caudo‐rostral maturation of the brainstem. Stimulus rates above 50/sec (50–80/sec) produced a relatively uniform depression (refractoriness) in the early BEP components irrespective of age. Only potentials generated in rostral structures continued to covary with rate of stimulation. These studies indicate that in the human brainstem the mechanisms responsible for neuronal recovery are essentially mature in the neonatal period.