The passive CNV: carving out the contribution of task-related processes to expectancy

In this perspective article, I summarized certain theoretical and methodological issues concerning the investigation of the contribution of cognitive and motor processes to the electrophysiological stimulus-preceding activity. In particular, the question of whether the contingent negative variation (CNV) is a marker reflecting both cognitive expectancy and motor preparation in the S1–S2 paradigms was discussed. New evidence suggests that it is possible to isolate an automatic temporal expectancy-related cognitive mechanism relying on a passive CNV after ruling out the contribution of task-related processes, including motor and decisional processes, to it. This can be achieved by simply manipulating the trial temporal structure according to a probabilistic, oddball distribution. The scientific value of this finding is framed within a historical perspective in the attempt to bridge together the classic literature linking the CNV to stimulus preparation and the more recently published literature linking the CNV to temporal processing.

[1]  Richard Ragot,et al.  Relationship between CNV and timing of an upcoming event , 2005, Neuroscience Letters.

[2]  D. Ruchkin,et al.  Terminal CNV in the absence of motor response. , 1986, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[3]  J. Tecce.  Contingent negative variation (CNV) and psychological processes in man. , 1972, Psychological bulletin.

[4]  Michela Sarlo,et al.  Automatic Temporal Expectancy: A High-Density Event-Related Potential Study , 2013, PloS one.

[5]  A. Gaillard,et al.  Effects of warning-signal modality on the contingent negative variation (CNV) , 1976, Biological Psychology.

[6]  S. Grondin,et al.  Judging the relative duration of multimodal short empty time intervals , 1991, Perception & psychophysics.

[7]  Michihiko Nakamura,et al.  Effect of Motor‐Response‐Deprivation on Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) I: Normal Adult Data , 1975, Folia psychiatrica et neurologica japonica.

[8]  T Elbert,et al.  The processing of temporal intervals reflected by CNV-like brain potentials. , 1991, Psychophysiology.

[9]  Alexa Riehle,et al.  Preparation for Action: one of the Key Functions of Motor Cortex , 2004 .

[10]  Franck Vidal,et al.  Timing processes: an outline of behavioural and neural indices not systematically considered in timing models. , 2009, Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale.

[11]  C. Brunia,et al.  Waiting in readiness: gating in attention and motor preparation. , 1993, Psychophysiology.

[12]  N. E. Loveless,et al.  The impact of warning signal intensity on reaction time and components of the contingent negative variation , 1975, Biological Psychology.

[13]  Franck Vidal,et al.  The supplementary motor area in motor and sensory timing: evidence from slow brain potential changes , 1999, Experimental Brain Research.

[14]  C. Brunia,et al.  Wait and see. , 2001, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[15]  Mark G. Stokes,et al.  Functionally dissociating temporal and motor components of response preparation in left intraparietal sulcus , 2011, NeuroImage.

[16]  R M Church,et al.  Scalar Timing in Memory , 1984, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[17]  B. Rockstroh,et al.  Slow potentials of the cerebral cortex and behavior. , 1990, Physiological reviews.

[18]  Warren H Meck,et al.  Timing in the baby brain. , 2004, Brain research. Cognitive brain research.

[19]  Rolf Verleger,et al.  CNV and temporal uncertainty with ‘ageing’ and ‘non-ageing’ S1–S2 intervals , 2000, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[20]  B. Cant,et al.  The effect of motivation on the contingent negative variation (CNV). , 1967, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[21]  John W. Rohrbaugh,et al.  13 Sensory and Motor Aspects of the Contingent Negative Variation , 1983 .

[22]  J. Gibson.  The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception , 1979 .

[23]  D. Kourtis,et al.  Neurophysiology of Implicit Timing in Serial Choice Reaction-Time Performance , 2006, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[24]  Liberson Cw,et al.  Eye movements during the alert state (psychophysiological correlations under resting conditions). , 1967 .

[25]  A. Clark.  Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science. , 2013, The Behavioral and brain sciences.

[26]  俊 松田,et al.  随伴陰性変動 (contingent negative variation : CNV) と有意味材料の記銘検索 , 1983 .

[27]  M. Treisman.  Temporal discrimination and the indifference interval. Implications for a model of the "internal clock". , 1963, Psychological monographs.

[28]  F. Vidal,et al.  Event-Related Potentials as Indices of Time Processing: A Review , 2004 .

[29]  W. Walter,et al.  Contingent Negative Variation : An Electric Sign of Sensori-Motor Association and Expectancy in the Human Brain , 1964, Nature.

[30]  Franck Vidal,et al.  The CNV peak: an index of decision making and temporal memory. , 2003, Psychophysiology.

[31]  Karl J. Friston.  The free-energy principle: a unified brain theory? , 2010, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[32]  J. Gibbon.  Scalar expectancy theory and Weber's law in animal timing. , 1977 .

[33]  H. Fruhstorfer,et al.  Differentiation between slow cortical potentials associated with motor and mental acts in man , 2005, Experimental Brain Research.

[34]  R. A. Neill,et al.  The determinants of the non-motoric CNV in a complex, variable foreperiod, information processing paradigm , 1988, Biological Psychology.

[35]  Tadeusz W. Kononowicz,et al.  Slow Potentials in Time Estimation: The Role of Temporal Accumulation and Habituation , 2011, Front. Integr. Neurosci..

[36]  前田 薫.  Contingent negative variation (CNV) , 2011 .

[37]  P. Lang,et al.  The effects of eye fixation and stimulus and response location on the contingent negative variation (CNV). , 1973, Biological psychology.

[38]  Warren H. Meck,et al.  Contingent negative variation and its relation to time estimation: a theoretical evaluation , 2011, Front. Integr. Neurosci..

[39]  津田 敏雄,et al.  Contingent negative variation , 1984 .

[40]  Kwun Kei Ng,et al.  Temporal Accumulation and Decision Processes in the Duration Bisection Task Revealed by Contingent Negative Variation , 2011, Front. Integr. Neurosci..

[41]  D. Mcadam,et al.  Motivational determinants of the "contingent negative variation". , 1966, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[42]  Ann-Christine Ehlis,et al.  The time course of temporal discrimination: An ERP study , 2010, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[43]  J. Rohrbaugh,et al.  ERPs associated with preparatory and movement-related processes. A review. , 1986, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology. Supplement.