Seventy years since the invention of the averaging technique in Neurophysiology: Tribute to George Duncan Dawson.

Otto Jesus Hernández Fustes,Rosana Herminia Scola,Paulo José Lorenzoni,Cláudia Suemi Kamoi Kay,Lineu Cesar Werneck,Renata Dal-Prá Ducci

doi:10.1590/0004-282x-anp-2021-0263

Otto Jesus Hernández Fustes, Rosana Herminia Scola + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1590/0004-282x-anp-2021-0263

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Abstract

In 1951, the physiologist George Duncan Dawson presented his work with the averaging of the signal in the evoked potentials (EPs), opening a new stage in the development of clinical neurophysiology. The authors present aspects of Professor Dawson's biography and a review of his work on the EPs and, mainly, the article reveals the new technique in detail that would allow the growth of the clinical application of the visual, auditory, and somatosensory EPs.

Highlights

In 1951, the physiologist George Duncan Dawson presented his work with the averaging of the signal in the evoked potentials (EPs), opening a new stage in the development of clinical neurophysiology
The initial description of the evoked potential (EP) by Richard Caton in 1875 was when he observed on the galvanometer fluctuations in the electrical activity of the monkey’s exposed cortex in response to the stimulation of his lips and the light shone in one eye, and it took more than half a century, due to the lack of adequate equipment to record these evoked responses, even the pioneering work of the English physiologist George Duncan Dawson[1]
Dawson demonstrated that electrical stimulation of a peripheral nerve in human produces brain responses[3], and the analysis of these responses at the time, distally stimulating the median or ulnar nerves, they generated a low amplitude action potential[4], making their study difficult, a problem that was solved with the summation technique he developed

Summary

Introduction

In 1951, the physiologist George Duncan Dawson presented his work with the averaging of the signal in the evoked potentials (EPs), opening a new stage in the development of clinical neurophysiology. The initial description of the evoked potential (EP) by Richard Caton in 1875 was when he observed on the galvanometer fluctuations in the electrical activity of the monkey’s exposed cortex in response to the stimulation of his lips and the light shone in one eye, and it took more than half a century, due to the lack of adequate equipment to record these evoked responses, even the pioneering work of the English physiologist George Duncan Dawson[1].

Results

Conclusion