[Study of the orientation reaction in children with behavior disorders of the affective-anxiety type].

A comparative study of the orientation reaction to a sound stimulus was carried out in children with psychopathic behaviour of the affective-anxiety type of the residual-organic genesis, children with a pathocharacterological formation of the personality of the affective-anxiety type, and in normal children. The studied components of the orientation reaction included an electroencephalographic reaction of activation, vertex potentials, and skin-galvanic reaction. Children with behavioural disorders presented changes in manifestations of different components of the orientation response and impairment of their speed and order of reduction. The nature of the found alterations indicate dysfunction of the mesodiencephalic structures of the brain in these children.