[A new psychophysiologic test, "The Information Test", and its possible use in cardiology]

The authors describe a new psychophysiological test based on the use of commercially available television apparatuses and aimed at determining the efficiency of information processing. The use of the test in 346 people has demonstrated its acceptability for building up psychoemotional tension and detecting the hypertensive hemodynamic response. The analysis of the results of the testing conducted in normal subjects and cardiovascular patients has permitted the selection of the most informative criteria of the test. These include the coefficient of information processing, and also the increment and time-course of the blood pressure. This standardized psychophysiological test may be employed in the diagnosis of the early stages of arterial hypertension and neurocirculatory dystonia.