The <i>P1: </i>Insights into Attention and Arousal

Abstract

The authors provide evidence that four mesencephalic nuclei, two of which are cholinergic and two of which are catecholaminergic, serve as oscillators capable of modulating a number of interrelated rhythmic functions. These include sleep-wake cycles, locomotion, blood pressure, respiratory rate, heart rate, mastication, micturition, and saccadic eye movements. The P1 auditory evoked potential is generated by ascendiung cholinergic projections from one of these nuclei, the pedunculopontine nucleus, and thus serves as a clinical tool to monitor the integrity of this system.

Neural plasticity following auditory training in children with learning problems

“…Accelerated maturation of the P1N2 cortical responses observed after training suggests alterations in the nonprimary reticulo-thalamic pathway that regulates gating of sensory information (Antonelli and Calearo, 1968;Boop et al, 1994). Accelerated maturation might also reflect changes in the sensory encoding of the acoustic attributes of the stimulus in the thalamocortical pathway (Chen and Buchwald, 1986).…”

The auditory P50 component to onset and offset of sound

“…Such decreased gating was also observed in normal adolescents compared to normal older subjects (Rasco et al, 2000). The amplitude of P 50 was found to be attenuated in autism (Buchwald et al, 1988(Buchwald et al, , 1992), Alzheimer's disease (Buchwald et al, 1989;Green et al, 1992;Fein et al, 1994;O'Mahony et al, 1994), Huntington's disease (Uc et al, 2003), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Kemner et al, 1996) and narcolepsy (Boop et al, 1994), suggesting decreased reticular arousal by sound. P 50 was reported to be diminished and prolonged or absent in Parkinson's disease, improving following posterior ansapallidotomy, except in one patient who showed mild worsening attributed to post-operative sleepiness (Mohamed et al, 1996).…”

Smoking during pregnancy: Postnatal effects on arousal and attentional brain systems

“…Evidence supporting the suggestion that the P13 potential is the rodent equivalent of the human P50 potential includes, a) the P13 potential, like the P50 potential, is sleep statedependent, being present during waking and REM sleep and absent during slow wave sleep, b) there is a linear correlation between body weight of the species and the latency of this waveform (50 msec in human, 25 msec in feline, 13 msec in rodent), c) both are positive waves, d) both habituate rapidly, and both are blocked by the muscarinic antagonist scopolamine (Garcia-Rill and Skinner, 2001). The P50 potential has been found to manifest decreased amplitude in disorders that exhibit decrements in arousal, such as autism (Buchwald et al, 1992) and narcolepsy (Boop et al, 1994). Decrements in habituation of the P50 potential are present in schizophrenia (Adler et al,182), anxiety disorders (Skinner et al, 1999), as well as autism (Buchwald et al, 1992) and other conditions (Garcia-Rill and Skinner, 2001).…”