Lateralized EEG components with direction information for the preparation of saccades versus finger movements

Abstract. During preparation of horizontal saccades in humans, several lateralized (relative to saccade direction), event-related EEG components occur that have been interpreted as reflecting activity of frontal and parietal eye fields. We investigated to what degree these components are specific to saccade preparation. EEG lateralization was examined within the interval (1 s) between a first (S1) and a second (S2) stimulus, after which a response had to be made (look left or right, or press a button with the left or right index finger). The visual S1 indicated either the direction (left vs right) and/or the effector (eye vs finger), and S2 (visual/auditory in different blocks) added the information not given by S1. An occipital component (220 ms after S1) was effector-independent, probably reflecting processing of the direction code. The following parietotemporal component (320 ms after S1) was specific for direction information. This component seems more relevant for finger movements than for saccades and may reflect a link between visual perception to action. A later frontal component (480 ms after S1) was specific for direction information and may be related to the planning of a lateral movement. One component was entirely specific for the preparation of a finger movement (the lateralized readiness potential before S2). Thus, several different lateralized processes in the S1-S2 interval could be delineated, reflecting hand-specific preparation, processing of the direction code, and the coordination of perception and action, but no components were observed as being specific for saccade preparation.

[1]  S. Kobayashi,et al.  Electroencephalographic activity associated with shifts of visuospatial attention. , 1994, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[2]  R. C. Oldfield.  The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

[3]  Martin Eimer,et al.  Uninformative symbolic cues may bias visual-spatial attention: behavioral and electrophysiological evidence , 1997, Biological Psychology.

[4]  Rolf Verleger,et al.  Spatial S-R Compatibility with Centrally Presented Stimuli: An Event-Related Asymmetry Study on Dimensional Overlap , 1999, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[5]  S. Everling,et al.  Event-related potentials associated with correct and incorrect responses in a cued antisaccade task , 1998, Experimental Brain Research.

[6]  T. Mergner,et al.  Dependence of presaccadic cortical potentials on the type of saccadic eye movement. , 1992, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[7]  M. Eimer.  The N2pc component as an indicator of attentional selectivity. , 1996, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[8]  S J Luck,et al.  Spatial filtering during visual search: evidence from human electrophysiology. , 1994, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[9]  E Wascher,et al.  The interaction of stimulus- and response-related processes measured by event-related lateralizations of the EEG. , 1996, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[10]  R Verleger,et al.  Lateralised cortical activity due to preparation of saccades and finger movements: a comparative study. , 1997, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[11]  M. Goodale,et al.  The visual brain in action , 1995 .

[12]  W. Sommer,et al.  Motor programming of response force and movement direction. , 1998, Psychophysiology.

[13]  J. Schall.  Neuronal activity related to visually guided saccades in the frontal eye fields of rhesus monkeys: comparison with supplementary eye fields. , 1991, Journal of neurophysiology.

[14]  M. Posner,et al.  The attention system of the human brain. , 1990, Annual review of neuroscience.

[15]  R. T. Pivik,et al.  Guidelines for the recording and quantitative analysis of electroencephalographic activity in research contexts. , 1993, Psychophysiology.

[16]  P. Apkarian,et al.  Inter-hemispheric lateralization of event related potentials; motoric versus non-motoric cortical activity. , 1998, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[17]  M Eimer,et al.  Stimulus-response compatibility and automatic response activation: evidence from psychophysiological studies. , 1995, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[18]  Paul M. Corballis,et al.  Hemispheric Organization of Visual Memories , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[19]  J C Woestenburg,et al.  Location selection in the visual domain. , 2000, Psychophysiology.

[20]  J. C. Woestenburg,et al.  The influence of peripheral precues on the tendency to react towards a lateral relevant stimulus with multiple-item arrays , 1999, Biological Psychology.

[21]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Neglect as a neural representation deficit. , 1990, Revue neurologique.

[22]  C. Eriksen,et al.  Pre- and poststimulus activation of response channels: a psychophysiological analysis. , 1988, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[23]  M G Coles,et al.  On the transmission of partial information: inferences from movement-related brain potentials. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[24]  V. Mountcastle,et al.  Posterior parietal association cortex of the monkey: command functions for operations within extrapersonal space. , 1975, Journal of neurophysiology.

[25]  P. Bertelson,et al.  The time-course of preparation: Confirmatory results with visual and auditory warning signals , 1969 .

[26]  M. Coles.  Modern mind-brain reading: psychophysiology, physiology, and cognition. , 1989, Psychophysiology.

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

[28]  R. Verleger,et al.  Multivariate methods in biosignal analysis : application of principal component analysis to event-related potentials , 1991 .

[29]  G. W. Thickbroom,et al.  Premotor negativity associated with saccadic eye movement and finger movement: a comparative study , 1990, Brain Research.

[30]  J. C. Woestenburg,et al.  Modulation of early ERP components with peripheral precues: a trend analysis , 1997, Biological Psychology.

[31]  Steven L. Miller,et al.  Neural Processes Involved in Directing Attention , 1989, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[32]  G. Rizzolatti,et al.  Reorienting attention across the horizontal and vertical meridians: Evidence in favor of a premotor theory of attention , 1987, Neuropsychologia.

[33]  C. Brunia.  Stimulus Preceding Negativity: Arguments in Favour of Non Motoric Slow Waves , 1993 .

[34]  R Verleger,et al.  Lateralized human cortical activity for shifting visuospatial attention and initiating saccades. , 1998, Journal of neurophysiology.

[35]  L. Mulder,et al.  Use of partial stimulus information in response processing. , 1988, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[36]  A. Cools,et al.  Dipole source analysis suggests selective modulation of the supplementary motor area contribution to the readiness potential. , 1996, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[37]  R Verleger,et al.  The presaccadic cortical negativity prior to self-paced saccades with and without visual guidance. , 1994, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[38]  S. Luck,et al.  Electrophysiological correlates of feature analysis during visual search. , 1994, Psychophysiology.

[39]  R. Verleger,et al.  Preparation for action: an ERP study about two tasks provoking variability in response speed. , 1996, Psychophysiology.

[40]  C. Pierrot-Deseilligny,et al.  Cortical control of saccades , 1998, Experimental Brain Research.

[41]  E. Donchin.  Multivariate analysis of event-related potential data: A tutorial review , 1978 .

[42]  T. Gasser,et al.  Correction of EOG artifacts in event-related potentials of the EEG: aspects of reliability and validity. , 1982, Psychophysiology.

[43]  M M Mesulam,et al.  Large‐scale neurocognitive networks and distributed processing for attention, language, and memory , 1990, Annals of neurology.

[44]  J R Duhamel,et al.  The updating of the representation of visual space in parietal cortex by intended eye movements. , 1992, Science.