Association cortex potentials and reaction time in auditory discrimination.

Abstract Averaged evoked responses to auditory stimuli were obtained in simple reaction time and vigilance tasks, as well as a no response control condition. The P2 component of sensory evoked potentials had essentially identical peak latency for the various experimental conditions. By contrast, the P3 component of association cortex potentials was found to be about 100 msec longer in latency for vigilance than for simple reaction time, and to be significantly longer in latency for a harder compared to an easier discrimination in the vigilance task. These changes in P3 latency were accompanied by comparable alterations in mean reaction time. In the vigilance conditions, single trial EEG recordings were scored for peak latency of P3 for each signal. Significant product-moment correlations were obtained between the single trial P3 and reaction time values. The results were interpreted to reflect different functional roles of sensory evoked potentials and association cortex potentials.

[1]  W. Ritter,et al.  The sources of auditory evoked responses recorded from the human scalp. , 1970, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[2]  H. Vaughan,et al.  Functional Relation between Stimulus Intensity and Photically Evoked Cerebral Responses in Man , 1965, Nature.

[3]  D. Lindsley,et al.  Average evoked potentials and reaction times to visual stimuli. , 1966, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[4]  C. Pollak,et al.  Evoked responses to clicks and tones of varying intensity in waking adults. , 1966, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[5]  Vaughan Hg,et al.  Analysis of electroencephalographic correlates of human sensori-motor processes. , 1968 .

[6]  W. Ritter,et al.  Orienting and habituation to auditory stimuli: a study of short term changes in average evoked responses. , 1968, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[7]  F. Morrell,et al.  Evoked potentials and reaction times: a study of intra-individual variability. , 1966, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[8]  P Finkenzeller,et al.  Evoked responses as a function of external and stored information. , 1968, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[9]  P. H. Lindsay,et al.  Evoked Potential Correlates of Auditory Signal Detection , 1971, Science.

[10]  L. Gilden,et al.  Summated human EEG potentials with voluntary movement. , 1966, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[11]  H Bostock,et al.  Changes in the form of the cerebral evoked response related to the speed of simple reaction time. , 1970, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[12]  R. Wilkinson,et al.  Auditory evoked response and reaction time. , 1967, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[13]  E Donchin,et al.  Averaged evoked potentials and intramodality selective attention. , 1967, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[14]  Vaughan,et al.  The relationship of brain activity to scalp recordings of event-related potentials. , 1969 .

[15]  H G Vaughan,et al.  Averaged Evoked Responses in Vigilance and Discrimination: A Reassessment , 1969, Science.

[16]  H G Vaughan,et al.  The functional relation of visual evoked response and reaction time to stimulus intensity. , 1966, Vision research.

[17]  E. John,et al.  Evoked-Potential Correlates of Stimulus Uncertainty , 1965, Science.