A NEW METHOD TO STUDY BLOOD-PRESSURE, HEART-RATE AND EEG AS A FUNCTION OF REACTION-TIME

A new method is presented to study the relationship between reaction t ime and blood pressure, heart rate and EEG. The method consists of a s imultaneous recording of continuous invasive or non-invasive arterial blood pressure, ECG, EEG, EMG and EOG in a sound-isolated chamber whil e a monotonous visual reaction time test is running for about 90 minut es. The signals are A/D-converted and analyzed digitally after recordi ng. One second average amplitudes are computed. Systolic, mean and dia stolic blood pressure values are calculated, and the EEG is divided in to the delta, theta, alpha, sigma and beta frequency bands. The signal amplitudes are averaged in three different reaction time categories, i. e., when the reaction is normal, delayed or missing. Preliminary te sts suggest that interesting differences can be observed in the studie d variables in different reaction time classes. This method can also b e applied to the investigation of autonomic control and to treatment s tudies.