Abstract
Event-related potential (ERP) studies feature among the most cited papers in the field of body representation, with recent research highlighting the potential of ERPs as neuropsychiatric biomarkers. Despite this, investigation into how reliable early visual ERPs and body-sensitive effects are over time has been overlooked. This study therefore aimed to assess the stability of early body-sensitive effects and visual P1, N1 and VPP responses. Participants were asked to identify pictures of their own bodies, other bodies and houses during an EEG test session that was completed at the same time, once a week, for four consecutive weeks. Results showed that amplitude and latency of early visual components and their associated body-sensitive effects were stable over the 4-week period. Furthermore, correlational analyses revealed that VPP component amplitude might be more reliable than VPP latency and specific electrode sites might be more robust indicators of body-sensitive cortical activity than others. These findings suggest that visual P1, N1 and VPP responses, alongside body-sensitive N1/VPP effects, are robust indications of neuronal activity. We conclude that these components are eligible to be considered as electrophysiological biomarkers relevant to body representation.
Highlights
In a pioneering study [1], a bilateral region in the lateral occipito-temporal cortex was identified as a module for body processing as it was found to respond strongly and selectively to images of the human body and human body parts
It has been suggested that fusiform body area (FBA) and EBA contribute functionally distinct representations of the body to person perception [5] this is somewhat debated [6,7,8]
Our findings show that early visual Event related potential (ERP) components and the body-sensitive effects within their time ranges are stable over time within the same individuals, in line with what has been reported for auditory, face-selective and error-related ERP components [28, 39, 43]
Summary
In a pioneering study [1], a bilateral region in the lateral occipito-temporal cortex (extrastriate body area; EBA) was identified as a module for body processing as it was found to respond strongly and selectively to images of the human body and human body parts. The fusiform body area (FBA), a second body-sensitive region found ventrally on the fusiform gyrus, was described a few years later [4]. It has been suggested that FBA and EBA contribute functionally distinct representations of the body to person perception [5] this is somewhat debated [6,7,8]. Event related potential (ERP) studies have corroborated these findings, with reports of a functional difference in early electrophysiological responses over occipito-parietal and frontocentral electrodes when bodies are viewed in comparison to other stimuli [9].
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