Event-related potentials and autonomic functions.

The authors pointed out how some of the anatomic structures involved in the genesis of the event related potentials (ERPs) are also considered parts of the supranuclear regulation apparatus of the autonomic nervous system. Since there are evident functional similarities between some components of the ERPs and the orienting reflex--primitive form of attention--that is clearly associated with an autonomic activation, it could be interesting to evaluate the parameters of the ERPs in those experimental and clinical situations in which there is a functional involvement of the vegetative nervous system.