[Neurophysiologic correlations of cognitive dysfunction in depressed patients with syndrome of juvenile asthenic deficiency].

Peculiarities of cognitive process were studied in 34 right-handed endogenously depressed patients with "juvenile asthenic deficiency" ("endogener juveniler Versagensyndrome" according to J. Glatzel and G Huber, 1968) by means of visual evoked potentials (EP) in the emotional recognition task. Two control groups consisted of 19 healthy individuals and 20 patients with other types of depressions. The main and control groups were matched for age, sex, handedness and education level. Compared to controls the patients with "juvenile asthenic deficiency" demonstrated highly significant alterations in indices of EP late negative wave in anterior areas of the left hemisphere which related to neither the nosology of "juvenile asthenic deficiency" (cyclothymia, schizophrenia) nor the types of dominant cognitive disorders. Dependence on both nosology and clinical subtype of asthenic deficiency was found only for separate characteristics of earlier EP waves. The results suggest the disturbance of the final stages of information processing and the decision making specific for "juvenile asthenic deficiency".