title: [Development of optical evoked activity in the human].
abstract: A comparison with experimental results obtained from animals shows that the development in man of what is called evoked potentials is considerably more complicated. The neonatal type of human response is very similar to the pattern in adult animals. However, for the further development it is not possible to find an analogy in animals. The entire character of the response is changed, the number of waves being increased. Only the changes in latency are comparable with experimental results. The rate of development is different, too. In man, although he belongs to those mammals giving birth to very immature offsprings, the first responses show long before the time of childbirth. For the animals studied to date this is the case postnatally only. The results obtained show that the development of stimulated activity, i. e., of evoked potentials and photic driving, continues through all childhood. The evaluation of the individual parameters, therefore, is a suitable method for evolutionary studies of the human nervous system. It is appropriate to speak of electrophysiological criteria of the state of maturation of the central nervous system. The development of all parameters is most rapid in the first months of life. It certainly is not necessary to stress that this particular fact does not only reflect the conditions in the optical system, but that it is an expression of great and rapid changes in the entire central nervous system.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time
vernacular_title: Die Entwicklung der optischen Reizaktivität beim Menschen.