THE COGNITIVE PUPILLARY OSCILLATION HYPOT HESIS IN PATIENTS WITH NEUROTIC DISORDERS OR ORGANIC BRAIN-SYNDROME - RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OFNEW PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL METHOD

A new psychophysiological method called ''cognitive pupillary oscillat ion hypothesis'' is introduced. Under the influence of a cognitive tes t (simple calculations) changes of the maximal amplitudes of pupillary oscillations, reflecting central nervous activation, are observed. In healthy subjects a retest reliability of 0.75-0.85 was calculated. Fu rthermore, the data after FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) of pupillary os cillations of two populations of patients (n = 509 and 396, respective ly) showed a high stability. The validity of the method was determined by means of a procedure similar to cross validation. The use of the ' 'cognitive pupillary oscillation hypothesis'' for the differential dia gnosis between patients with neurotic disorders (ICD 9: 300) (n = 73) and patients with organic brain syndrome (ICD 9: 290, ICD 291.2) (n = 34) is demonstrated.