APPLICATION OF STEINBUCH'S ″LERNMATRIX″ AS A NEW MATHEMATICAL APPROACH IN THE ASSESSMENT OF AIR POLLUTION EFFECTS.

The method was developed to study the effect of environmental lead on the neurological development of newborn infants during their first year of life. One of its main advantages is its extreme sensitivity which allows a considerably smaller sample size than most other epidemiological methods. The application presupposes that normal infants show a typical age-dependent reflex pattern for which a mathematical coordination may be constructed. The reflex pattern of highly burdened children can then be compared to this coordination and the appropriate physiological age estimated. If there results a systematic difference between physiological and real age it may be interpreted as a mental retardation.