title: Automated testing of reaction time and its association with lead in children.
abstract: Following Needleman et al.'s (1979) report of a correlation between tooth lead estimates in children and reaction time as measured by Rodnick and Shakow's (1940) delayed reaction time paradigm, a version of the procedure with two delay periods of 3 s and 12 s was developed for automated presentation and scoring on a VIC-20 microcomputer. Data are presented from a study of 300 children aged 6-14 years. Mean reaction time over six trials for each delay period related in a curvilinear fashion with age, but no relationships were found with sex or intelligence. Age-adjusted reaction time related significantly with blood-lead levels, but accounted for only about 1 per cent of the variance. The effect was mainly observed in younger (6-10 years) children in whom higher lead was associated with slower reaction time.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003201:Computers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood; D007855:Lead Poisoning / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D012306:Risk
chemical_list: D007854:Lead