Abstract
A new test battery, the Auditory Cross-Section (AXS) Battery, offers a relatively inexpensive, noninvasive means of describing a “neurological fingerprint” for each individual. The battery’s “access to axes” combines physiological and behavioral measures so that a large set of dependent variables can be used to profile an individual and can serve as a context for additional anatomical, behavioral, and physiological data for the same subject. Physiological tests included in the battery described here include (1) otoacoustic emissions (OAEs); (2) the repeated evoked potentials version of the auditory brainstem response (REPs/ABR); and (3) quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG). Complementary behavioral tests were chosen to assess capabilities related to functional asymmetries, such as phonemic awareness and fine motor control, and/or to demonstrate temporal correlations that link behavioral and neural function. Applications of the AXS battery include (1) documentation of individual differences and similarities in neural organization that are related to specific behaviors, such as learning styles or clinical symptoms; (2) provision of contextual data for neuroimaging studies that aid in interpreting individually specific patterns of activation; and (3) development of a neurotypology of human brain/behavior relations, linking characteristics of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology with features of behavior, and general body health.
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This paper is based on a presentation to the Measuring Behavior ’98 Conference, August 1998, Groningen, The Netherlands. The AXS Battery represents an approach and recommended set of procedures. The commercially available hardware and software described here were developed by others, and we have received no financial consideration from the vendors to mention their specific products in this report.
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Lauter, J.L. The AXS battery and “neurological fingerprints”: Meeting the challenge of individual differences in human brain/behavior relations. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 32, 180–190 (2000). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03200800
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03200800