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Event-related Potentials (event-related + potential)
Kinds of Event-related Potentials Selected AbstractsEvent-related potential (ERP) indices of infants' recognition of familiar and unfamiliar objects in two and three dimensionsDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2006Leslie J. Carver We measured infants' recognition of familiar and unfamiliar 3-D objects and their 2-D representations using event-related potentials (ERPs). Infants differentiated familiar from unfamiliar objects when viewing them in both two and three dimensions. However, differentiation between the familiar and novel objects occurred more quickly when infants viewed the object in 3-D than when they viewed 2-D representations. The results are discussed with respect to infants' recognition abilities and their understanding of real objects and representations. This is the first study using 3-D objects in conjunction with ERPs in infants, and it introduces an interesting new methodology for assessing infants' electrophysiological responses to real objects. [source] Influences of postconceptional age and postnatal experience on the development of auditory recognition memory in the newborn infantDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 3 2002Raye-Ann deRegnier Abstract We evaluated the effects of postconceptional age and postnatal experience on the development of neonatal auditory recognition memory. Three groups were tested: a premature newborn group (tested at 35,38 weeks postconceptional age, ,1 week old), a full-term newborn group (tested at 39,42 weeks postconceptional age, ,1 week old), and a full-term experienced group (tested at 39,42 weeks postconceptional age, >1 week old; range 8,30 days). Event-related potentials were collected while infants listened to the maternal voice alternating with a stranger's voice. Postconceptional age was correlated with the development of recognition memory for the maternal voice while there were qualitative effects of postnatal experience on latency measurements. Maturity of auditory cortical responses was not correlated with recognition memory abilities. We conclude that maturation of the recognition memory pathways is primarily a function of postconceptional age with qualitative effects of postnatal experience. Maturation of the auditory recognition memory pathway is not contingent upon maturation of the "P2" peak thought to arise from primary auditory cortex. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 41: 216,225, 2002. Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/dev.10070 [source] Immature cortical responses to auditory stimuli in specific language impairment: evidence from ERPs to rapid tone sequencesDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2004D.V.M. Bishop Event-related potentials (ERPs) to tone pairs and single tones were measured for 16 participants with specific language impairment (SLI) and 16 age-matched controls aged from 10 to 19 years. The tone pairs were separated by an inter-stimulus interval (ISI) of 20, 50 or 150 ms. The intraclass correlation (ICC) was computed for each participant between the ERP to a single tone and the ERP to the tone pair. A high ICC indicates that the brain response to a tone pair is similar to that for a single tone. ICCs were significantly higher at short than at long ISIs. At 50-ms ISI, ICCs were higher for younger than older participants. Age and ISI interacted with SLI status: ERPs of older participants with SLI differed from age-matched controls, and resembled ERPs of younger controls, consistent with a theory of immature auditory processing in SLI. [source] Newborn human brain identifies repeated auditory feature conjunctions of low sequential probabilityEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 10 2004Timo Ruusuvirta Abstract Natural environments are usually composed of multiple sources for sounds. The sounds might physically differ from one another only as feature conjunctions, and several of them might occur repeatedly in the short term. Nevertheless, the detection of rare sounds requires the identification of the repeated ones. Adults have some limited ability to effortlessly identify repeated sounds in such acoustically complex environments, but the developmental onset of this finite ability is unknown. Sleeping newborn infants were presented with a repeated tone carrying six frequent (P = 0.15 each) and six rare (P ,0.017 each) conjunctions of its frequency, intensity and duration. Event-related potentials recorded from the infants' scalp were found to shift in amplitude towards positive polarity selectively in response to rare conjunctions. This finding suggests that humans are relatively hard-wired to preattentively identify repeated auditory feature conjunctions even when such conjunctions occur rarely among other similar ones. [source] Mapping the time course of nonconscious and conscious perception of fear: An integration of central and peripheral measuresHUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 2 2004Leanne M. Williams Abstract Neuroimaging studies using backward masking suggest that conscious and nonconscious responses to complex signals of fear (facial expressions) occur via parallel cortical and subcortical circuits. Little is known, however, about the temporal differentiation of these responses. Psychophysics procedures were first used to determine objective thresholds for both nonconscious detection (face vs. blank screen) and discrimination (fear vs. neutral face) in a backward masking paradigm. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were then recorded (n = 20) using these thresholds. Ten blocks of masked fear and neutral faces were presented under each threshold condition. Simultaneously recorded skin conductance responses (SCRs) provided an independent index of stimulus perception. It was found that Fear stimuli evoked faster SCR rise times than did neutral stimuli across all conditions, indicating that emotional content influenced responses, regardless of awareness. In the first 400 msec of processing, ERPs dissociated the time course of conscious (enhanced N4 component) from nonconscious (enhanced N2 component) perception of fear, relative to neutral. Nonconscious detection of fear also elicited relatively faster P1 responses within 100 msec post-stimulus. The N2 may provide a temporal correlate of the initial sensory processing of salient facial configurations, which is enhanced when top-down cortical feedback is precluded. By contrast, the N4 may index the conscious integration of emotion stimuli in working memory, subserved by greater cortical engagement. Hum. Brain Mapping 21:64,74, 2004. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Working memory in posttraumatic stress disorder,an event-related potential studyJOURNAL OF TRAUMATIC STRESS, Issue 2 2001Cherrie Galletly Abstract This study examined ERP topography during the updating and the utilization of working memory in subjects with PTSD. Event-related potentials of 18 participants with PTSD and 18 controls were recorded from 32 scalp electrodes during an auditory target detection task requiring the constant updating of target identity. Midline N2 and P3 abnormalities previously noted in PTSD during target detection were replicated. Scalp topographic data revealed sustained reduction in activity over the right hemisphere during working memory updating. Executive processes were associated with brief but widespread right hemisphere reductions during the P3, followed by sustained, bilateral reduction frontally. This study identifies an abnormal pattern of cortical network function during both the updating and use of working memory in PTSD. [source] Brain potentials in perception: Picture complexity and emotional arousalPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 3 2007Margaret M. Bradley Event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured while participants viewed affectively arousing and neutral pictures depicting either simple figure,ground compositions or more complex scenes to assess the timing and topography of perceptual and emotional modulation. Emotional pictures elicited a larger late positive potential than neutral pictures in a 400,700-ms window over centro-parietal sensors both for pictures with simple figure,ground composition and for more complex scenes. Picture composition affected ERPs beginning earlier (around 150 ms), with simple figure,ground compositions eliciting less positivity over posterior sensors and less negativity over frontal sensors. Emotionality had little effect on modulation of these early ERPs. These data suggest that the late centro-parietal positive potential primarily reflects motivational relevance, and that earlier posterior (and anterior) components reflect, at least in part, differences in a picture's perceptual organization. [source] ERP indices of emotionality and semantic cohesiveness during recognition judgmentsPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 1 2004Heather E. Mcneely Abstract Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to examine the impact of emotionality on false recognition. In Experiment 1, participants discriminated previously studied words from neutral and negatively valenced emotional foils. Emotional words elicited a more positive ERP than did neutral words and emotional foils were falsely recognized more often than neutral foils. In Experiment 2, the hypothesis that emotionality-based false recognition is due to the semantic cohesiveness of emotional words was tested by including a highly associated but emotionally neutral category (animals). It was emotional and not animal foils that elicited greater positivity in the ERP and increased false positive response. These data provide little support for semantic cohesiveness as the basis for false recognition effects, but are consistent with the view that the salience of emotional words can be falsely attributed to familiarity in the context of a recognition task. [source] Event-related potentials associated with sound discrimination versus novelty detection in childrenPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 1 2004eponien Abstract In children, deviant sounds in an oddball paradigm elicit a mismatch negativity (MMN) indexing discrimination of sound change and late difference negativity (LDN) with unknown functional significance. Salient sounds elicit an ERP index if orienting, P3a, and a late negative component, Nc. We compared children's responses elicited by moderate sound changes and novel sounds to examine the relationships between MMN and LDN, and LDN and Nc. Two components of the Nc, the Nc1 and Nc2, were identified. The scalp topography of LDN differed from those of the MMN and Nc1. Children's early P3a appeared mature but late P3a lacked frontal predominance. The findings suggested that LDN is not linked with either the sensory or attentional processing. It might reflect cognitive, albeit preattentive, processing of sound change. The Nc1 appears to reflect cognitive attentive processing of salient stimuli and the Nc2 might reflect reorienting after distraction. [source] Comparing arithmetic and semantic fact retrieval: Effects of problem size and sentence constraint on event-related brain potentialsPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 6 2003Kerstin Jost Abstract Event-related potentials were recorded with 61 electrodes from 16 students who verified either the correctness of single-digit multiplication problems or the semantic congruency of sentences. Multiplication problems varied in size and sentence fragments in constraint. Both semantic and arithmetic incongruencies evoked a typical N400 with a clear parieto-central maximum. In addition, numerically larger problems (8×7), in comparison to smaller problems (3×2), evoked a negativity starting at about 360 ms whose maximum was located over the right temporal-parietal scalp. These results indicate that the arithmetic incongruency and the problem-size effect are functionally distinct. It is suggested that the arithmetic and the semantic incongruency effects are both functionally related to a context-dependent spread of activation in specialized associative networks, whereas the arithmetic problem-size effect is due to rechecking routines that go beyond basic fact retrieval. [source] Fleeting images: A new look at early emotion discriminationPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 2 2001Markus Junghöfer The visual brain quickly sorted stimuli for emotional impact despite high-speed presentation (3 or 5 per s) in a sustained, serial torrent of 700 complex pictures. Event-related potentials, recorded with a dense electrode array, showed selective discrimination of emotionally arousing stimuli from less affective content. Primary sources of this activation were over the occipital cortices, extending to right parietal cortex, suggesting a processing focus in the posterior visual system. Emotion discrimination was independent of formal pictorial properties (color, brightness, spatial frequency, and complexity). The data support the hypothesis of a very short-term conceptual memory store (M. C. Potter, 1999),shown here to include a fleeting but reliable assessment of affective meaning. [source] Memory for drawings in locations: Spatial source memory and event-related potentialsPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 4 2000Cyma van Petten Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during recognition tasks for line drawings (items) or for both drawings and their spatial locations (sources). Recognized drawings elicited more positive ERPs than new drawings. Independent of accuracy in the spatial judgment, the old/new effect in the source recognition task was larger over the prefrontal scalp, and of longer temporal duration than in the item recognition task, suggesting that the source memory task engaged a qualitatively distinct memory process. More posterior scalp sites were sensitive to the accuracy of the source judgment, but this effect was delayed relative to the difference between studied and unstudied drawings, suggesting that source memory processes are completed after item recognition. Similarities and differences between spatial source memory and memory for conjunctions of other stimulus attributes are discussed, together with the role of prefrontal cortex in memory. [source] Event-related potentials and white matter lesions in bipolar disorderACTA NEUROPSYCHIATRICA, Issue 1 2002E. F. P. M. Vuurman Objectives: To investigate neurophysiological parameters which possibly distinguish subtypes I and II of patients with a bipolar disorder, and contrast the findings with observations from a group of schizophrenic patients and a group of healthy controls. Methods: Sixty-six volunteers underwent a MRI scan to determine the number and location of white matter lesions (WSL). A electrophysiological registration was made while all volunteers performed a auditory ,oddball' task, and the amplitude of the resulting P300 wave was compared. Results: Earlier reports of higher numbers of WSL in bipolar disorder were not replicated in this study. Subtypes I and II showed a different P300 amplitude and subtype I resembled the results of the schizophrenia group. Conclusion: Bipolar patients in remission have a functional brain disorder that is expressed by a change in physiological response to external stimuli. [source] Links between social and linguistic processing of speech in preschool children with autism: behavioral and electrophysiological measuresDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2005Patricia K. Kuhl Data on typically developing children suggest a link between social interaction and language learning, a finding of interest both to theories of language and theories of autism. In this study, we examined social and linguistic processing of speech in preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing chronologically matched (TDCA) and mental age matched (TDMA) children. The social measure was an auditory preference test that pitted ,motherese' speech samples against non-speech analogs of the same signals. The linguistic measure was phonetic discrimination assessed with mismatch negativity (MMN), an event-related potential (ERP). As a group, children with ASD differed from controls by: (a) demonstrating a preference for the non-speech analog signals, and (b) failing to show a significant MMN in response to a syllable change. When ASD children were divided into subgroups based on auditory preference, and the ERP data reanalyzed, ASD children who preferred non-speech still failed to show an MMN, whereas ASD children who preferred motherese did not differ from the controls. The data support the hypothesis of an association between social and linguistic processing in children with ASD. [source] VIQ-PIQ Discrepancies in Partial Epilepsy: On the Relation to Lat- eralities of Focal MRI Lesions, P3 Peaks, and Focal Spikes.EPILEPSIA, Issue 2000Osamu Kanazawa Purpose: A number of previous ncurophysiological studies have indicated that the glutamatergic system is important in the induction of epileptiform activity and the dcvelopment of epileptogenesis. Clutamate transport is the primary mechanism of inactivation of syiiaptically released glutamate. GLAST is classified BS an astrocytic transporter and occurs in high concentrations in the ccrebcllum. The pathophysiologic rolc of GLAST in epilepsy is not known in detail. To investigate the role of thc astroglial glutamatc transporter GLAST in epileptogenesis, we compared amygdalu-kindling and pentylenctetrazolc (PTZ) induced seizures in GLAST-deficient mice (GLAST(-/-)) wild-type mice (GLAST(+/+)), and maternal C57Black6/J mice (C57). Purpose: Subtest IQ such as verbal IQ (VIQ) and performance IQ (PIQ) in WAIS or WISC are thought to represent neuropsychological functions of the left and right hemispheres, respectively. The P300 (P3) event-related potential reflects cognitive processes. We do not ye1 know the brain site of P3 origin or how epileptogenic foci (EF) influ- ence P3 potentials. To examine neuropsychological influence by partial epilepsy (PE), we studied VIQ-PIQ discrepancies in PE in relation to lateralities of focal MRI lesions, P3 peaks, and EF. Methods: Thirteen patients showed VIQ-PIQ discrepancies significant at the p7lt;O.O5 level, represented by a>l2-point spread for the WAIS in adults, and a 15-point spread in the WISC in children. We evoked P3 potentials in the individuals with discrepant IQ differences by asking them to keep a mental count of rare tones, including introduction of oddbail tones. EEGs were recorded by the international 10,20 system and P3 peaks were shown in a topographical view by offline analysis. Patients were divided into normal and abnormal groups according to MRI findings, and were examined for the laterali- ties of the dominant side in subtest IQ (conventionally, we regarded higher VIQ as left hemisphere dominant and higher PIQ as right hemisphere dominant), P3 peaks, and EF. We did not correlate results with lert or right handedness. Results: Five patients (38.5%) were in the normal group and 8 patients (61.5%) were in the abnormal group. Concordance of the lateralities in P3 peaks and dominant side in subtest IQ was shown in 1 patient (20%) in the normal group and 5 patients (62.5%) in the abnormal group. In the normal group, all patients showed contralateral P3 peak shift to EF, and all except I patient showed contralateral P3 peak shift to the dominant side in subtest IQ. The other 3 patients in the abnormal group showed unilateral focal cortical dysplasias (FCD), ipsilateral P3 shift, and contralateral dominant side in subtest IQ to the focal MRI lesions. Conclusion: In our partial epilepsy series with VIQ-PIQ discrepancies, concordance of the lateralities in P3 peaks and dominant side in subtest IQ was shown in < half of the patients. Epileptogenic foci seem to have 3 different grades of influence on P3 peak shift and dominant side in subtest IQ according to the severities of accompanying focal MRI lesions: 1. Without MRI lesions, EF can make P3 peak shift contralaterally, but the dominant side in the subtest IQ shift ipsilaterally; 2. With less severe focal MRI lesions such as hippocampal atrophy etc., EF can make not only P3 peaks but also the dominant side in the subtest IQ shift contralaterally; 3. With severe focal MRI lesions such as FCD, EF can make the dominant side in the subtest IQ shift contralaterally, but the P3 peak may shift ipsilaterally. Epileptogenic foci without MRI lesions seem to control ipsilateral P3 potentials. MRI lesions render a hemisphere unlikely to become dominant, but epileptogenic foci can coexist with apparently normal neuropsychological function. [source] CLINICAL STUDY: The P300 event-related potential and its possible role as an endophenotype for studying substance use disorders: a reviewADDICTION BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Shubh M. Singh ABSTRACT The concept of endophenotypes has gained popularity in recent years. This is because of the potential that endophenotypes provide of measuring objective trait markers that are simpler to access and assess than complex behavioral disease phenotypes themselves. The simplicity, ease of measurement and the putative links to the etiology of the disease in the study of an endophenotype has the potential promise of unraveling the genetic basis of the disease in question. Of the various proposed endophenotypes, the P300 component of the event-related potential has been used in studies on alcoholism, schizophrenia and externalizing disorders. The current state of knowledge regarding the concept of endophenotypes, P300 and the validity of P300 as an endophenotype with special reference to substance use disorders is discussed in this review. The implications of the above are discussed. [source] Delayed visual P3 in unilateral thalamic strokeEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 5 2000E. Trinka The P3 potential is accepted as a neurophysiological correlate of memory and attention. Delayed latencies were reported in different forms of dementias. Although the generator sites are still under debate, the thalamus may play a crucial role. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of an unilateral thalamic ischaemic infarction on P3 generation. The event-related P3 component of six patients (2 male, four female; mean age 47 years, range 22,63 years) with unilateral thalamic ischaemic infarction was studied and compared to age-matched controls (five male, nine female; mean age 45.8 years; range 22,69 years). All patients underwent full clinical examination, CCT, and MRI scan. P3 potentials were recorded with a visual three stimulus discrimination paradigm. The mean P3 latency of the patient group to the target stimulus was delayed (469.7 ms, SD = 36.8) compared with the controls (378.8 ms, SD = 51.5; P < 0.05). The mean P3 latency to the unexpected stimulus was delayed in patients with thalamic infarction compared with controls [477 ms (SD = 46.6) vs. 381.2 ms (SD = 48.5); P < 0.001). Delayed P3 components of the event-related potential (ERP) were recorded in six patients with unilateral thalamic infarction, suggesting an important role of the thalamus in the generation of the P3 potential. [source] On the positive side of error processing: error-awareness positivity revisitedEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 7 2009Shani Shalgi Abstract Performance errors are indexed in the brain even if they are not consciously registered, as demonstrated by the error-related negativity (ERN or Ne) event-related potential. It has recently been shown that another response-locked potential, the error positivity (Pe), follows the Ne, but only in those trials in which the participants consciously detect making the error (,Aware Errors'). In the present study we generalize these findings to an auditory task and investigate possible caveats in the interpretation of the Pe as an index of error awareness. In an auditory Go/No-Go error-awareness task (auditory EAT) participants pressed an additional ,fix error' button after noticing that they had made an error. As in visual tasks, the Ne was similar for aware (,fixed') and unaware (,unfixed') errors, while the Pe was enhanced only for Aware Errors. Within subjects, the Ne and Pe behaved in similar fashions for auditory and visual errors. A control condition confirmed that the awareness effect was not due to the requirement to report error awareness. These results reinforce the evidence in favor of the Pe as a correlate of conscious error processing, and imply that this process is not modality-specific. Nevertheless, single-trial analysis suggested that the Pe may be a delayed P3b related to stimulus processing rather than to response monitoring. [source] A neuroanatomically grounded Hebbian-learning model of attention,language interactions in the human brainEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 2 2008Max Garagnani Abstract Meaningful familiar stimuli and senseless unknown materials lead to different patterns of brain activation. A late major neurophysiological response indexing ,sense' is the negative component of event-related potential peaking at around 400 ms (N400), an event-related potential that emerges in attention-demanding tasks and is larger for senseless materials (e.g. meaningless pseudowords) than for matched meaningful stimuli (words). However, the mismatch negativity (latency 100,250 ms), an early automatic brain response elicited under distraction, is larger to words than to pseudowords, thus exhibiting the opposite pattern to that seen for the N400. So far, no theoretical account has been able to reconcile and explain these findings by means of a single, mechanistic neural model. We implemented a neuroanatomically grounded neural network model of the left perisylvian language cortex and simulated: (i) brain processes of early language acquisition and (ii) cortical responses to familiar word and senseless pseudoword stimuli. We found that variation of the area-specific inhibition (the model correlate of attention) modulated the simulated brain response to words and pseudowords, producing either an N400- or a mismatch negativity-like response depending on the amount of inhibition (i.e. available attentional resources). Our model: (i) provides a unifying explanatory account, at cortical level, of experimental observations that, so far, had not been given a coherent interpretation within a single framework; (ii) demonstrates the viability of purely Hebbian, associative learning in a multilayered neural network architecture; and (iii) makes clear predictions on the effects of attention on latency and magnitude of event-related potentials to lexical items. Such predictions have been confirmed by recent experimental evidence. [source] Isolating endogenous visuo-spatial attentional effects using the novel visual-evoked spread spectrum analysis (VESPA) techniqueEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 12 2007Edmund C. Lalor Abstract In natural visual environments, we use attention to select between relevant and irrelevant stimuli that are presented simultaneously. Our attention to objects in our visual field is largely controlled endogenously, but is also affected exogenously through the influence of novel stimuli and events. The study of endogenous and exogenous attention as separate mechanisms has been possible in behavioral and functional imaging studies, where multiple stimuli can be presented continuously and simultaneously. It has also been possible in electroencephalogram studies using the steady-state visual-evoked potential (SSVEP); however, it has not been possible in conventional event-related potential (ERP) studies, which are hampered by the need to present suddenly onsetting stimuli in isolation. This is unfortunate as the ERP technique allows for the analysis of human physiology with much greater temporal resolution than functional magnetic resonance imaging or the SSVEP. While ERP studies of endogenous attention have been widely reported, these experiments have a serious limitation in that the suddenly onsetting stimuli, used to elicit the ERP, inevitably have an exogenous, attention-grabbing effect. Recently we have shown that it is possible to derive separate event-related responses to concurrent, continuously presented stimuli using the VESPA (visual-evoked spread spectrum analysis) technique. In this study we employed an experimental paradigm based on this method, in which two pairs of diagonally opposite, non-contiguous disc-segment stimuli were presented, one pair to be ignored and the other to be attended. VESPA responses derived for each pair showed a strong modulation at 90,100 ms (during the visual P1 component), demonstrating the utility of the method for isolating endogenous visuo-spatial attention effects. [source] Enhanced mismatch negativity brain response after binaural word presentationEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 6 2004Tanja Endrass Abstract An oddball paradigm was used to investigate brain processes elicited by spoken words and pseudowords played monaurally, to the left or right ear, or simultaneously to both ears of human subjects instructed to ignore acoustic stimuli but watch a silent video film. The mismatch negativity (MMN), a neurophysiological index of the automatic activation of cortical memory traces, was calculated as the difference between the event-related potential elicited by an infrequent deviant stimulus and the event-related potential to the same item presented as a frequent standard stimulus. Consistent with earlier reports, the MMN to words was larger than that to pseudowords, possibly reflecting the existence of memory traces for spoken words. Bilateral redundant stimulus presentation led to a further increase of the MMN to words relative to both unilateral stimulation modes. This bilateral redundancy gain was absent for pseudowords. We interpret the neurophysiological manifestation of a word-specific bilateral redundancy gain as evidence for interhemispheric cooperation in the automatic access to memory traces for spoken words. Accordingly, word-related cortical networks distributed over both hemispheres allow summation of neural activity between and within hemispheres, thereby potentiating the word-related MMN. [source] Independent component analysis of erroneous and correct responses suggests online response controlHUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 9 2010Sven Hoffmann Abstract After errors in reaction tasks, a sharp negative wave emerges in the event-related potential (ERP), the error (related) negativity (Ne or ERN). However, also after correct trials, an Ne-like wave is seen, called CRN or Nc, which is much smaller than the Ne. This study tested the hypothesis whether Ne and Nc reflect the same functional process, and whether this process is linked to online response control. For this purpose, independent component analysis (ICA) was utilized with the EEG data of two types of reaction tasks: a flanker task and a mental rotation task. To control for speed-accuracy effects, speed and accuracy instructions were balanced in a between subjects design. For both tasks ICA and dipole analysis revealed one component (Ne-IC) explaining most of the variance for the difference between correct and erroneous trials. The Ne-IC showed virtually the same features as the raw postresponse ERP, being larger for erroneous compared to correct trials and for the flanker than for the rotation task. In addition, it peaked earlier for corrected than for uncorrected errors. The results favor the hypothesis that Ne and Nc reflect the same process, which is modulated by response correctness and type of task. On the basis of the literature and the present results, we assume that this process induces online response control, which is much stronger in error than correct trials and with direct rather than indirect stimulus response mapping. Hum Brain Mapp, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Cognitive function, P3a/P3b brain potentials, and cortical thickness in agingHUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 11 2007Anders M. Fjell Abstract The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship between the P3a/P3b brain potentials, cortical thickness, and cognitive function in aging. Thirty-five younger and 37 older healthy participants completed a visual three-stimuli oddball ERP (event-related potential)-paradigm, a battery of neuropsychological tests, and MRI scans. Groups with short vs. long latency, and low vs. high amplitude, were compared on a point by point basis across the entire cortical mantle. In the young, thickness was only weakly related to P3. In the elderly, P3a amplitude effects were found in parietal areas, the temporoparietal junction, and parts of the posterior cingulate cortex. P3b latency was especially related to cortical thickness in large frontal regions. Path models with the whole sample pooled together were constructed, demonstrating that cortical thickness in the temporoparietal cortex predicted P3a amplitude, which in turn predicted executive function, and that thickness in orbitofrontal cortex predicted P3b latency, which in turn predicted fluid function. When age was included in the model, the relationship between P3 and cognitive function vanished, while the relationship between regional cortical thickness and P3 remained. It is concluded that thickness in specific cortical areas correlates with scalp recorded P3a/P3b in elderly, and that these relationships differentially mediate higher cognitive function. Hum Brain Mapp 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Cortical Indexes of Saccade Planning Following Covert Orienting in 20-Week-Old InfantsINFANCY, Issue 2 2001John E. Richards This study examined scalp-recorded, event-related potential (ERP) indexes of saccade planning in 20-week-old infants. A spatial cuing procedure was used in which the infants were presented with a central fixation stimulus and a peripheral cue. A peripheral target followed the cue on the ipsilateral or contralateral side of the cue. The procedure resulted in covert orienting of attention in these participants, reflected in behavioral (e.g., response facilitation or inhibition of return depending on cue-target stimulus-onset asynchrony) and ERP (P1 facilitation to ipsilateral target) indexes of covert orienting of attention. A presaccadic ERP that occurred over the frontal cortex about 50 msec before the saccade onset was largest when the saccade was to a target in a cued location. A presaccadic ERP potential that occurred about 300 msec before the saccade onset was largest for the saccades toward the cued location whether the target was present or not. These results suggest that saccade planning occurs in infants at this age and that infant saccade planning is controlled by cortical systems. [source] Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Corticotropin Releasing Hormone Receptor 1 Gene (CRHR1) Are Associated With Quantitative Trait of Event-Related Potential and Alcohol DependenceALCOHOLISM, Issue 6 2010Andrew C. H. Chen Background:, Endophenotypes reflect more proximal effects of genes than diagnostic categories, hence providing a more powerful strategy in searching for genes involved in complex psychiatric disorders. There is strong evidence suggesting the P3 amplitude of the event-related potential (ERP) as an endophenotype for the risk of alcoholism and other disinhibitory disorders. Recent studies demonstrated a crucial role of corticotropin releasing hormone receptor 1 (CRHR1) in the environmental stress response and ethanol self-administration in animal models. The aim of the present study was to test the potential associations between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the CRHR1 gene and the quantitative trait, P3 amplitude during the processing of visual target signals in an oddball paradigm, as well as alcohol dependence diagnosis. Methods:, We analyzed a sample from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) comprising 1049 Caucasian subjects from 209 families (including 472 alcohol-dependent individuals). Quantitative transmission disequilibrium test (QTDT) and family-based association test (FBAT) were used to test the association, and false discovery rate (FDR) was applied to correct for multiple comparisons. Results:, Significant associations (p < 0.05) were found between the P3 amplitude and alcohol dependence with multiple SNPs in the CRHR1 gene. Conclusions:, Our results suggest that CRHR1 may be involved in modulating the P3 component of the ERP during information processing and in vulnerability to alcoholism. These findings underscore the utility of electrophysiology and the endophenotype approach in the genetic study of psychiatric disorders. [source] Performance monitoring during sleep inertia after a 1-h daytime napJOURNAL OF SLEEP RESEARCH, Issue 3 2010SHOICHI ASAOKA Summary Performance monitoring is an essential function involved in the correction of errors. Deterioration of this function may result in serious accidents. This function is reflected in two event-related potential (ERP) components that occur after erroneous responses, specifically the error-related negativity/error negativity (ERN/Ne) and error positivity (Pe). The ERN/Ne is thought to be associated with error detection, while the Pe is thought to reflect motivational significance or recognition of errors. Using these ERP components, some studies have shown that sleepiness resulting from extended wakefulness may cause a decline in error-monitoring function. However, the effects of sleep inertia have not yet been explored. In this study, we examined the effects of sleep inertia immediately after a 1-h daytime nap on error-monitoring function as expressed through the ERN/Ne and Pe. Nine healthy young adults participated in two different experimental conditions (nap and rest). Participants performed the arrow-orientation task before and immediately after a 1-h nap or rest period. Immediately after the nap, participants reported an increased effort to perform the task and tended to estimate their performance as better, despite no objective difference in actual performance between the two conditions. ERN/Ne amplitude showed no difference between the conditions; however, the amplitude of the Pe was reduced following the nap. These results suggest that individuals can detect their own error responses, but the motivational significance ascribed to these errors might be diminished during the sleep inertia experienced after a 1-h nap. This decline might lead to overestimation of their performance. [source] Empathy and error processingPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010Michael J. Larson Abstract Recent research suggests a relationship between empathy and error processing. Error processing is an evaluative control function that can be measured using post-error response time slowing and the error-related negativity (ERN) and post-error positivity (Pe) components of the event-related potential (ERP). Thirty healthy participants completed two measures of empathy, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Empathy Quotient (EQ), and a modified Stroop task. Post-error slowing was associated with increased empathic personal distress on the IRI. ERN amplitude was related to overall empathy score on the EQ and the fantasy subscale of the IRI. The Pe and measures of empathy were not related. Results remained consistent when negative affect was controlled via partial correlation, with an additional relationship between ERN amplitude and empathic concern on the IRI. Findings support a connection between empathy and error processing mechanisms. [source] Effects of intermodal attention on the auditory steady-state response and the event-related potentialPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Katja Saupe Abstract The aim of the present study was to simultaneously measure and compare intermodal attention effects in event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs). For this purpose, 40-Hz amplitude modulated tones and a visual fixation cross were presented concurrently. By means of target detection tasks either on the sounds or on the fixation cross, participants' attention was directed to the respective modality. Attended sounds elicited a negative difference (Nd) in the ERP relative to unattended sounds. Nd was divided into an early and a late part as often observed for intramodal attention. Moreover, attention to the sounds led to a significant enhancement of the ASSR. This modulation of the ASSR by intermodal attention is demonstrated for the first time in the EEG. The present data suggest that ASSRs could provide a useful tool for the investigation of the neural dynamics of intermodal attentional processes. [source] Characterizing the ERP Old,New effect in a short-term memory taskPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 5 2008Jared F. Danker Abstract The early and late components of the event-related potential (ERP) Old,New effect are well characterized with respect to long-term memory, and have been associated with processes of familiarity and recollection, respectively. Now, using a short-term memory paradigm with verbal and nonverbal stimuli, we explored the way that these two components respond to variation in recency and stimulus type. We found that the amplitude of the early component (or frontal N400, FN400) showed Old,New effects only for verbal stimuli and increased with recency. In contrast, the later component (or late positive component, LPC) showed Old,New effects across a range of stimulus types and did not scale with recency. These results are consistent with the way that these same ERP components have been characterized in long-term memory, supporting the idea that some of the same processes underlie long- and short-term item recognition. [source] The selective processing of briefly presented affective pictures: An ERP analysisPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 3 2004Harald T. Schupp Abstract Recent event-related potential (ERP) studies revealed the selective processing of affective pictures. The present study explored whether the same phenomenon can be observed when pictures are presented only briefly. Toward this end, pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures from the International Affective Pictures Series were presented for 120 ms while event related potentials were measured by dense sensor arrays. As observed for longer picture presentations, brief affective pictures were selectively processed. Specifically, pleasant and unpleasant pictures were associated with an early endogenous negative shift over temporo-occipital sensors compared to neutral images. In addition, affective pictures elicited enlarged late positive potentials over centro-parietal sensor sites relative to neutral images. These data suggest that a quick glimpse of emotionally relevant stimuli appears sufficient to tune the brain for selective perceptual processing. [source] |