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Auditory evoked potentials to verbal stimuli in healthy, aphasic, and right hemisphere damaged subjects

Pathway effects and parallels to language processing and attention

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Summary

Acoustic evoked potentials to meaningful words were recorded in healthy, aphasic, and right hemisphere-damaged subjects under four conditions: monaural left and right, binaural, and dichotic stimulation. Four major findings emerged. First, healthy and brain-damaged subjects differed in amplitude and latency values of the N1 and P2 components. In healthy subjects N1 was greater and P2 smaller than in aphasics. Both components peaked earlier in patients than in normals. Second, evoked potentials of healthy subjects showed a late sustained component which was decreased in aphasics. Third, the latencies of P1 and N1 as well as the amplitude of N1 showed a “pathway effect”, i.e. shorter latency and greater amplitude to contralateral stimulation. Fourth, under the dichotic condition, P1 and N1 peaked earlier over the left hemisphere. The N1 amplitude behaved differently in the three groups depending upon stimulating conditions.

It is suggested that these differences reflect linguistic coding and related attentional processes in patients and normals.

Zusammenfassung

Es wurden akustisch evozierte Potentiale (AEP) nach verbalen Reizen bei Gesunden, Aphasikern und rechtshemisphärisch geschädigten Patienten abgeleitet. Sinnvolle Wörter wurden unter vier Bedingungen gegeben: monaural rechts und links, binaural und dichotisch. Es zeigten sich vier Haupteffekte. (1) Gesunde und hirngeschädigte Personen unterschieden sich in Amplituden- und Latenzwerten von N1 und P2. Bei Gesunden war N1 größer und P2 kleiner als bei Aphasikern. Beide Komponenten gipfelten früher bei Patienten als bei Gesunden. (2) AEP's von gesunden Personen zeigten eine späte langsame Komponente, die bei den Aphasikern erniedrigt war. (3) Die Latenzen von P1 und N1 zeigten ebenso wie die Amplitude von N1 einen „Gehörbahneffekt“, d. h. kürzere Latenz und größere Amplitude nach kontralateraler Stimulation. (4) Unter der dichotischen Bedingung gipfelten P1 und N1 früher über der linken Hemisphäre. Die N1-Amplituden der drei Personengruppen verhielten sich unter den verschiedenen Stimulationsbedingungen unterschiedlich. Die Befunde dürften linguistische Verarbeitung und damit verbundene Aufmerksamkeitsprozesse bei Patienten und Gesunden reflektieren.

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Author notes

  1. Aribert Rothenberger

    Present address: Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie, Universität Essen GH, Hufelandstraße 55, D-4300, Essen 1, Federal Republic of Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Psychology, H-1394, Budapest, Hungary

    József Szirtes

  2. Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, D-7900, Ulm, Federal Republic of Germany

    Aribert Rothenberger & Reinhart Jürgens

Authors
  1. Aribert Rothenberger
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  2. József Szirtes
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  3. Reinhart Jürgens
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Additional information

The paper was read in part on the 25th annual meeting of the German EEG Society, Würzburg, October 15 to 18, 1980, and the 24th annual meeting of the Hungarian EEG Society, Debrecen, November 4 to 6, 1980

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Rothenberger, A., Szirtes, J. & Jürgens, R. Auditory evoked potentials to verbal stimuli in healthy, aphasic, and right hemisphere damaged subjects. Arch Psychiatr Nervenkr 231, 155–170 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00343837

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00343837

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