Sensorimotor Reactivity of Children Living in a Radionuclide-Contaminated Zone

Schoolchildren aged 8 to 13 years were examined in Gomel. The children's sensorimotor reaction to light and acoustic stimuli is characterized with regard for their age and sex on the basis of the latency of sensorimotor reactions (LSMR), which shortened significantly with age in children of either sex. This developed unevenly in the children examined, as may be seen from the quite broad ranges of the LSMR fluctuation in each age group. The boys had a stronger sensorimotor reaction to both light and acoustic stimuli than the girls. At the same time, both the boys and the girls reacted to the acoustic stimulus more actively than to the light stimulus.