Eingegangen am 20. Juli 1972
Disturbances in the l%e~ction to Optic Signals in Multiple Sclerosis
Summary. 1. Reaction and selective reaction to optic signals was examined with the Bettendorff reaction a.pparatus T 296. The results in a group of 20 patients with multiple sclerosis were compared with those obtained from a control group of 20 healthy persons of the same sex and age.
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Reaction and selective reaction were significantly slower in the patients than in the control group.
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This delay in reaction and selective reaction time of the patients group was not consistent; selective reactions were more delayed than simple reactions.
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Reaction and selective reaction times of 12 patients with temporal pallor were significantly longer than those of the appropriate control subjects. However, reactions and selective reactions were significantly more prompt in the 12 patients with temporal pallor than in the 8 patients without this symptom.
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In the patients group the percentage of errors was 0.5 in simple reactions (controls 0.3~ and 17.1 in selective reactions (controls 12.5~ 6. There is evidence, that the prolongation of selective and simple reaction times is mainly due to disturbances in the central association systems. These disturbances may be regarded as a result of subcortical diseonnexion in multiple sclerosis.