P300 ASSESSMENT OF CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME

The P3(00) event-related brain potential (ERP) was elicited with an au ditory tone-discrimination paradigm in 25 patients diagnosed with chro nic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and 25 matched normal control subjects. Tar get stimulus probability was varied systematically (0.20, 0.50, 0.80) in different task conditions. No differences between the CFS and contr ol subjects were found for either P3 amplitude or latency. No group ef fects were observed for the NI, P2, and N2 components. Despite the att entional and immediate memory deficits reported in CFS, the P3 ERP fro m auditory stimuli does not reliably discriminate CFS from matched con trol subjects.