Primary and Secondary Task Analysis of Step Tracking: An Event-Related Potentials Approach

1981 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Kramer ◽  
Christopher Wickens ◽  
Linda Vanasse ◽  
Earle Heffley ◽  
Emanuel Donchin

The utility of the Event Related Brain Potential for the evaluation of task load was investigated. Subjects performed a discrete step tracking task with either first or second order control dynamics. In different conditions, the subject covertly counted auditory probes, visual probes, or tracking target steps presented in a Bernoulli series. In a fourth experimental condition subjects performed the primary tracking task without a secondary task. In the auditory condition, an increase in the difficulty of the primary task produced a decrease in the amplitude of the P300 elicited by the secondary count task. The introduction of the primary task in the visual condition resulted in an initial reduction in P300 amplitude but increasing task difficulty failed to attenuate the P300 further. A positive relationship between primary task difficulty and P300 amplitude was obtained in the step conditions. Furthermore, this effect did not require that the step changes be counted. The results are addressed in terms of the relative advantages of primary and secondary ERP workload assessment techniques.

Author(s):  
Kelene A. Fercho ◽  
Doug Peterson ◽  
Lee A. Baugh

The effects of task-induced cognitive fatigue on performance, strategy, and P300 event-related potentials (ERPs) were examined. Fatigue was induced by task load with participants completing either 700 mental rotation trials with (high fatigue) or without (low fatigue) a secondary task to increase fatigue. No differences were found between groups when examining mental rotation task decision accuracy or strategy; however, the number of trials in which the participant’s total trial time was greater than twice their average was influenced by experimental manipulations designed to increase task difficulty. These ‘minibreaks’, referred to as blocking, may have served to regulate effort expenditure in order to preserve task performance. P300 peak amplitude differed between groups, with high blocking participants showing a reduced amplitude and more dispersed P300 topology compared to low blockers. These results provide compelling evidence that performance outcome may not be affected by task demands if a compensatory effort strategy is utilized.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Waliszewska-Prosół ◽  
Joanna Bladowska ◽  
Sławomir Budrewicz ◽  
Marek Sąsiadek ◽  
Edyta Dziadkowiak ◽  
...  

AbstractThyroid dysfunction is very often accompanied by cognitive and affective disorders. The frequency of these disorders in patients with compensated Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) is unknown. The aim of the present study was to evaluate brain dysfunction in euthyroid HT patients by means of event-related potentials (ERP) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and to correlate it with cognitive function. 68 patients with HT (59 female, 9 male) and 45 healthy controls were included in the study. All the patients underwent ERP including an analysis of N200 and P300 response parameters. MRS voxels were located in the posterior cingulate gyrus (PCG) and the left parietal white matter (PWM). The NAA/Cr, mI/Cr, and Cho/Cr ratios were analysed. The ERP parameters, MRS metabolite ratios and hormonal concentrations (TSH, fT3, fT4) as well as TGAb and TPOAb titer were also correlated. There was a significant prolongation of the latencies of N200 and P300 potentials and a significant decrease of P300 amplitude in HT patients than in the control group. There was a significant positive correlation between the mI/Cr ratio in the PCG area and P300 latencies. NAA/Cr ratio in the PCG region showed significant negative correlations with all N200 latencies. The results may suggest brain dysfunction in neurologically asymptomatic HT patients. ERPs undergo significant changes in patients with HT and may, in combination with MRS, constitute an important element in the recognition and monitoring of cognitive functions in this group of patients.


CNS Spectrums ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 264-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching-Lin Chu ◽  
I Hui Lee ◽  
Mei Hung Chi ◽  
Kao Chin Chen ◽  
Po See Chen ◽  
...  

ObjectivePrevious studies have indicated that there is dopamine transporter (DAT) dysregulation and P300 abnormality in adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, the correlations among the three have not been fully explored.MethodsA total of 11 adults (9 males and 2 females) with ADHD and 11 age-, sex-, and education-level-matched controls were recruited. We explored differences in DAT availability using single-photon emission computed tomography and P300 wave of event-related potentials between the two groups. The correlation between DAT availability and P300 performance was also examined.ResultsDAT availability in the basal ganglia, caudate nucleus, and putamen was significantly lower in the ADHD group. Adults with ADHD had lower auditory P300 amplitudes at the Pz and Cz sites, as well as longer Fz latency than controls. DAT availability was negatively correlated to P300 latency at Pz and Fz.ConclusionsAdults with ADHD had both abnormal DAT availability and P300 amplitude, suggesting that ADHD is linked to dysfunction of the central dopaminergic system and poor cognitive processes related to response selection and execution.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Wang ◽  
Jiehui Zheng ◽  
Shenwei Huang ◽  
Haoye Sun

Our study aims to contrast the neural temporal features of early stage of decision making in the context of risk and ambiguity. In monetary gambles under ambiguous or risky conditions, 12 participants were asked to make a decision to bet or not, with the event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded meantime. The proportion of choosing to bet in ambiguous condition was significantly lower than that in risky condition. An ERP component identified as P300 was found. The P300 amplitude elicited in risky condition was significantly larger than that in ambiguous condition. The lower bet rate in ambiguous condition and the smaller P300 amplitude elicited by ambiguous stimuli revealed that people showed much more aversion in the ambiguous condition than in the risky condition. The ERP results may suggest that decision making under ambiguity occupies higher working memory and recalls more past experience while decision making under risk mainly mobilizes attentional resources to calculate current information. These findings extended the current understanding of underlying mechanism for early assessment stage of decision making and explored the difference between the decision making under risk and ambiguity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Guan Wang ◽  
Yuting Liu ◽  
Yuan Fang

Although previous researchers have shown that attention is preferentially allocated during situations involving both threat and selfrelevant information, it is unclear which information type requires more cognitive resources. We compared the automatic processing of threat and self-relevant stimuli using the no-report oddball paradigm. Participants looked at images on a computer screen that displayed fighting with opponents or interacting with friends or customers. The body action of the person depicted was performed either toward the viewing participant or toward other people. Participants watched without making an explicit response, and event-related potentials were measured with electroencephalography. We found that threat (vs. selfrelevant) information elicited a larger P300 amplitude, and for nonthreatening events the P300 amplitude was larger for self-relevant than other-relevant stimuli. These results indicate that threat (vs. selfrelevant) information demands more cognitive resources, possibly because people prioritize survival.


Author(s):  
Shashikanta Tarai

This chapter discusses neurocognitive mechanisms in terms of latency and amplitudes of EEG signals in depression that are presented in the form of event-related potentials (ERPs). Reviewing the available literature on depression, this chapter classifies early P100, ERN, N100, N170, P200, N200, and late P300 ERP components in frontal, mid-frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes. Using auditory oddball paradigm, most of the studies testing depressive patients have found robust P300 amplitude reduction. Proposing EEG methods and summarizing behavioral, neuroanatomical, and electrophysiological findings, this chapter discusses how the different tasks, paradigms, and stimuli contribute to the cohesiveness of neural signatures and psychobiological markers for identifying the patients with depression. Existing research gaps are directed to conduct ERP studies following go/no-go, flanker interference, and Stroop tasks on global and local attentional stimuli associated with happy and sad emotions to examine anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) dysfunction in depression.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. Shelley-Tremblay ◽  
Joshua C. Eyer ◽  
Benjamin D. Hill

Symptom exaggeration and feigned cognitive impairment occur commonly in forensic and medicolegal evaluations. As a result, methods to detect feigned cognitive impairment are an indispensable component of neuropsychological assessments. This study reports the results of two neurophysiological experiments using a forced-choice recognition task built from the stimuli of the Word Memory Test and Medical Symptom Validity Test as well as a new linguistically informed stimulus set. Participant volunteers were instructed either to do their best or to feign cognitive impairment consistent with a mild traumatic brain injury while their brain activity was monitored using event-related potentials (ERP). Experiment 1 varied instructions across individuals, whereas Experiment 2 varied instructions within individuals. The target brain component was a positive deflection indicating stimulus recognition that occurs approximately 300 ms after exposure to a stimulus (i.e., the P300). Multimodal comparison (P300 amplitude to behavioral accuracy) allowed the detection of feigned cognitive impairment. Results indicate that, for correct responses, P300s were equivalent for the simulated malingering and good effort conditions. However, for incorrect responses, feigned impairment produced reliable but significantly reduced P300 amplitudes. Although the P300 is an automatic index of recognition—even when knowledge is hidden—its amplitude appears capable of modulation by feigning strategies. Implications of this finding are discussed for research and clinical applications.


2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Bayard ◽  
Nadia Gosselin ◽  
Manon Robert ◽  
Maryse Lassonde

Interhemispheric differences of the N100 latency in visual evoked potentials have been used to estimate interhemispheric transfer time (e.g., Saron & Davidson, 1989). Recent work has also suggested that the P300 component could reflect the efficacy of interhemispheric transmission (Polich & Hoffman, 1998). The purpose of the present study was to study the differential role of the corpus callosum (CC) and anterior commissure (AC) in the interhemispheric propagation of these two electrophysiological components. Thus, the amplitude and latency distribution of the N100 and P300 components were analyzed using high-density electrical mapping in a subject with agenesis of CC but preservation of AC, a subject with agenesis of both CC and AC, and 10 neurologically intact control subjects. The task consisted of a modified visual oddball paradigm comprising one frequent and two rare stimuli, one presented on the same and the other on the opposite side of the frequent stimulus. Interhemispheric differences in latency were found for the N100 component in controls. However, in the acallosal subjects, this component was not identifiable in the indirectly stimulated hemisphere. In controls, no interhemispheric differences were observed in the distribution of the P300 latency and amplitude to rare and frequent stimuli. The distribution of the P300 amplitude in the acallosal subject with an AC was identical to that of the controls, whereas in the acallosal subject lacking the AC, the amplitude was greater in the hemisphere receiving the frequent stimuli, regardless of the visual hemifield in which the rare stimuli were presented. In both acallosal subjects, hemispheric differences in the P300 latency were observed, the latencies being shorter in the hemisphere directly stimulated for all categories of stimuli. These results suggest that the interhemispheric transfer of both the N100 and P300 components relies on the integrity of cortical commissures. Possible P300 generator sources are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 150 (7) ◽  
pp. 1951-1957 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishnamachari Srinivasan ◽  
Susan Thomas ◽  
Shilpa Anand ◽  
Mahesh Jayachandra ◽  
Tinku Thomas ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Background Deficiency of vitamin B-12 is common in pregnant Indian women. Assessment of neurophysiological measures using event-related potentials (ERPs) may yield additional information on the effects of maternal B-12 supplementation on child brain function. Objectives The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of vitamin B-12 supplementation (50 μg daily orally) during pregnancy on the childhood ERP measures of positive waveform ∼300 ms after stimulus (P300) and mismatch negativity. Methods This study was a follow-up of children born to pregnant women who received oral vitamin B-12 supplements (n = 62) compared with children of pregnant women who received placebo (n = 70) from a randomized controlled trial. The mean ± SD child age was 72 ± 1 mo. We used the Enobio system to assess the ERP measures P300 and mismatch negativity. Results There were no significant differences in the primary outcomes, amplitudes, and latencies of the P300 results and the mismatch negativity between children in the supplementation and placebo groups. We combined the intervention and placebo groups for secondary analyses. On multiple variable regression analysis after adjusting for treatment group, intrauterine growth restriction, and home environment, P300 amplitude in children was significantly higher in the lowest tertile of third-trimester maternal methylmalonic acid (MMA) concentrations (β = 3034.04; 95% CI: 923.24, 5144.83) compared with the highest MMA tertile (β = 1612.12; 95% CI: −258.86, 3483.10, P = 0.005). Conclusions While no significant effects of maternal vitamin B-12 supplementation on children's ERP measures were seen at 72 mo, elevated maternal MMA concentrations in the third trimester were negatively associated with P300 amplitude in children. It may be worthwhile to study the impact of maternal and infant vitamin B-12 supplementation on childhood brain structure and function in longer and larger trials. The parent trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00641862.


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