Average Evoked Responses in Normal and Minimally Brain Dysfunctioned Children Treated With Amphetamine

Abstract

Visual and auditory average evoked responses (AERs) were studied in 24 minimally brain dysfunctioned (MBD) children and 24 age- and sex-matched normal controls. MBD children showed AERs characteristic of relatively younger normal children. MBD children who showed clinical improvement on amphetamine tended to show these immature patterns of AER response off drug to a greater extent than MBD amphetamine nonresponders. Pretreatment AER was successfully used to predict drug response; responders could be separated from normal children with 64% accuracy. Amphetamine-related AER changes were also in opposite directions in responder and nonresponder MBD children. The data support the concept of a neurophysiological "maturational lag" in MBD children.