Effects of Gender, Education and Non-inverting Electrode Sites on P300 Auditory Event Related Potential in Healthy Subjects

Abstract

Objectve: Event-related potentals (ERPs) are among the most useful and dynamic tools for monitoring informaton flow in the brain. The auditory P300 is a well-established ERP component in the neurophysiological assessment of cogniton-related processes. In this study, we evaluated effects of gender, level of educaton and non-invertng electrode sites on P300 ERP parameters (latency and amplitude) in healthy subjects. Materials and Methods: In this descriptve, analytcal and non-interventonal study, P300 potentals were measured in oddball paradigm using two-tone burst stmuli (1000 & 2000 Hz) in 25 healthy females and 25 healthy males with different levels of educaton (diploma and bachelor’s degree), at Fz and Cz noninvertng electrode sites. Results: At Cz site, compared to Fz site, the mean P300 latency was signifcantly shorter ( p =0.002) and the mean P300 amplitude was signifcantly larger ( p =0.001) in both males and females. Amplitude, at Cz site, was signifcantly larger in females ( p =0.039). There was no signifcant difference between two levels of educaton in both genders at both electrode sites ( p >0.05). Conclusion: Signifcant increase in P300 latency and decrease in its amplitude at Fz site are associated with its related neural generators. The proximity of the Cz site to these neural generators, leads to a faster auditory informaton processing (shorter latency) and larger amplitude.