title: [Rest-activity-cycle and stereotyped hand waving of a mentally defective child (author's transl)].
abstract: Stereotyped acts of a mentally defective girl. 6;6 years old, were observed from 6 a.m. till 8 p.m. during 16 days. Alternating phases of more or less frequent stereotyped hand waving showed a prominent periodicity of about 90 minutes. Sleep stages were also determined polygraphically during 10 nights. As statistically proved the mean peak-to-peak interval of the stereotyped activity at days corresponded to the mean REM- to REM period of nights. This suggests, that the stereotyped behavior of this child was driven by the basic rest activity cycle already described by Kleitman. The mean periodicity of sleep stages was represented by modeled rhythms adapted to the scored sleep stages. If the model rhythms of all 10 nights were extended backward to the preceding days, they paralleled the stereotyped activity. Half periods found in phase with REM stages corresponded to the maxima of the stereotyped activity. It will be discussed that the basic rest activity cycle triggers sensory as well as motor mechanisms characterizing both the phases of enhanced stereotyped activity and REM stages.
mesh_terms: D001519:Behavior; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009068:Movement; D012895:Sleep, REM; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior; D013997:Time Factors
vernacular_title: Ein Ruhe-Aktivitätszyklus der stereotypen Handmotorik eines geistig behinderten Kindes.