Unilateral and bilateral ECT in elderly patients. A comparative study.

Twenty-nine depressed elderly patients receiving ECT were randomly assigned to a unilateral or bilateral group; post-ictal recovery times, memory changes, and clinical improvement during and after each course were measured by blind and independent observers. All patients but one showed full recovery on testing 3 weeks after treatment. There was no significant difference between the unilateral and bilateral groups either in terms of improvement or the number of treatments needed in each course.

Lability in the responses of cells in the auditory cortex of squirrel monkeys to species-specific vocalizations.

The activity of 28 cells located mainly in the secondary auditory cortex (A II) of awake squirrel-monkeys, was extracellularly recorded for periods of up to 6 h. Seven different species-specific vocalizations, which were repeatedly presented to the monkey, were used as auditory stimuli. Twenty-six cells responded, at least once, to one or more vocalizations; 22 cells revealed some change in their response (pattern or strength) to at least one vocalization ("change in response").

Recovery from ECT in elderly patients.

Nine elderly depressed patients were given ECT in courses which alternated unilateral and bilateral electrode placement; recovery times were measured. When compared with similar times for younger patients, recovery took on average five times as long from unilateral treatment and nine times as long from bilateral. Within the group, bilateral treatment took significantly longer for recovery than unilateral treatment and was significantly more sensitive to cumulative effect and interval effect.