ASYMPTOMATIC HIV-INFECTED WOMEN - PRELIMINARY-STUDY OF QUANTITATIVE EEG ACTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE ON A CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE-TEST

Several studies have examined the electrophysiological correlates of h uman immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in medically asymptomatic men. Although the rates of HIV infection are increasing at a greater r ate in women than men there have been no publications to date of elect rophysiological functioning in I-mr-infected women. In the present stu dy, quantitative electroencephalographic (qEEG) activity was measured in 22 women (11 asymptomatic HIV-seropositive and 11 HIV-seronegative) utilizing a procedure comprised of three auditory continuous performa nce tests and a set of qEEG components derived from principal componen ts analysis. No significant group differences were found in qEEG or in performance on the continuous performance tests; however, task-relate d differences were detected across groups between simple and complex l anguage tasks in EEG fast beta power, delta power, and a left-hemisphe re principal components analysis-derived EEG component. In examining t he electrophysiological correlates of HIV infection, researchers might employ a similar methodology while increasing the sample size and var ying the task modality or difficulty.