P3b Component Research Articles

Sex differences on emotional processing are modulated by subclinical levels of alexithymia and depression: A preliminary assessment using event-related potentials

Several studies have suggested that women are more sensitive than men to emotions in general. Event-related potential (ERP) studies have demonstrated N2 and P3b modulations, suggesting that women allocate more attentional resources to emotions than men do. However, the exact origin of this emotional modulation by sex is still a matter of debate. We wondered whether these sex differences might be due to some specific personality traits of women and men. Thirty participants (15 males and 15 females) were selected so that there were no sex differences on alexithymia, or depression and anxiety scales. The participants were asked to complete a “modified emotional” oddball task, in which they had to detect deviant stimuli among frequent neutral ones as quickly as possible. Behavioral performance, N2 and P3b ERP data were analyzed. When personality factors were controlled for, the sex differences on N2 and P3b components of the ERPs disappeared. Moreover, linear regression analyses showed that alexithymia was much better than sex at predicting the N2 latencies, while depression was the best factor for predicting the P3b latency. These results suggest that personality factors should be taken into account when sex differences on emotional processing are investigated.

Neuropsychological and neurophysiological assessment of sport concussion in children, adolescents and adults

Objective: To determine whether age differences exist with respect to neuropsychological and electrophysiological functioning following a sport concussion.Design: Cross-sectional study.Participants: Ninety-six athletes (9–12 years, n = 32; 13–16 years, n = 34; adults, n = 30), half of whom had a sport concussion.Intervention: Cognitive functioning was assessed using standardized neuropsychological tests and event-related potentials elicited by a visual 3-stimulus oddball paradigm. The PCSS was used to assess symptoms experienced at the time of injury.Main outcome measurements: Neuropsychological assessment with an adaptation of the battery used by the National Hockey League. Latencies and amplitudes of the P3a and P3b were analysed in terms of group (concussed vs. control) and age.Results: All concussed athletes had significantly lower amplitude for the P3b component compared to their non-injured teammates (p > 0.05). Adolescents also showed persistent deficits in working memory (p > 0.05).Conclusions: These data suggest persistent neurophysiological deficits that are present at least 6 months following a concussion. Moreover, adolescents are more sensitive to the consequences of concussions than are children or adults.

EEG correlates of Fitts’s law during preparation for action

Humans’ inability to move fast and accurately at the same time is expressed in Fitts’s law. It states that the movement time between targets depends on the index of difficulty, which is a function of the target width and the inter-target distance. The present study investigated the electrophysiological correlates of Fitts’s law during action planning using high-density electroencephalography. Movement times were scaled according to Fitts’s law, indicating that participants could not overcome the speed–accuracy trade-off during a 1-s preparation period. Importantly, the index of difficulty of the planned movement correlated linearly with the amplitudes of the cognitive N2 and P3b components, which developed during the planning period over parieto-occipital areas. These results suggest that the difficulty of a movement during action planning is represented at a level where perceptual information about the difficulty of the ensuing action is linked to motor programming of the required movement.

A simultaneous ERP/fMRI investigation of the P300 aging effect

One of the most reliable psychophysiological markers of aging is a linear decrease in the amplitude of the P300 potential, accompanied by a more frontal topographical orientation, but the precise neural origins of these differences have yet to be explored. We acquired simultaneous electroencephalogram (EEG)/functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) recordings from 14 older and 15 younger adults who performed a 3-stimulus visual oddball task designed to elicit P3a and P3b components. As in previous reports, older adults had significantly reduced P3a/P3b amplitudes over parietal electrodes but larger amplitudes over frontal scalp with no between-group differences in accuracy or reaction time. Electroencephalogram/functional magnetic resonance imaging fusion revealed that the P3a age effects were driven by increased activation of left inferior frontal and cingulate cortex and decreased activation of inferior parietal cortex in the older group. P3b differences were driven by increased activation of left temporal regions, right hippocampus, and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the older group. Our results support the proposal that the age-related P300 anterior shift arises from an increased reliance on prefrontal structures to support target and distractor processing.

Electrophysiological evidence of categorical perception of Chinese lexical tones in attentive condition

Previous electrophysiological evidence supports categorical perception of Chinese lexical tones at the preattentive stage (Xi and colleagues). In this study, we examined participants' attentive responses to tonal continua in an event-related potential experiment that recorded their N2b and P3b oddball responses. We found that for both the N2b and the P3b component, the responses elicited by the within-category deviants were similar in the left and the right recording sites. However, the across-category deviants elicited larger responses in the left recording sites than in the right sites, reflecting conscious phonological processing of lexical tones. These results provide electrophysiological correlates of categorical perception of Chinese lexical tones in later stages associated with controlled processes.

Distinct neural systems for men and women during emotional processing: a possible role of attention and evaluation

Distinct neural systems for men and women during emotional processing: a possible role of attention and evaluation

Conscious Access Is Linked to Ongoing Brain State: Electrophysiological Evidence from the Attentional Blink

Neuroscience explanations of conscious access focus on neural events elicited by stimuli. In contrast, here, we used the attentional blink paradigm in combination with event-related brain potentials to examine whether the ongoing state of the brain before a stimulus can determine both conscious access and the poststimulus neural events associated with consciousness. Participants were required to detect 2 target letters from digit distractors while their brain activity was being recorded. Trials were classified based on whether the secondcritical target (T2) was detected. We found that T2-detection was predetermined by brain activity prior to the onset of the stimulation stream. Specifically, T2-detected trials were predicated by a frontocentral positive going deflection that started more than 200 ms before the stream began. Accurate T2 detection was also accompanied by enhanced poststimulus neural activity, as reflected by a larger P3b component. Furthermore, prestimulus and poststimulus markers of T2-detection were highly correlated with one another. We therefore argue that conscious experiences are shaped by potentially random fluctuations in neural activity. Overall, the results reveal that conscious access is underpinned by an important relationship involving predictive prestimulus neural activity and responsive poststimulus brain activity.

Influence of Musical Expertise on Segmental and Tonal Processing in Mandarin Chinese

A same-different task was used to test the hypothesis that musical expertise improves the discrimination of tonal and segmental (consonant, vowel) variations in a tone language, Mandarin Chinese. Two four-word sequences (prime and target) were presented to French musicians and nonmusicians unfamiliar with Mandarin, and event-related brain potentials were recorded. Musicians detected both tonal and segmental variations more accurately than nonmusicians. Moreover, tonal variations were associated with higher error rate than segmental variations and elicited an increased N2/N3 component that developed 100 msec earlier in musicians than in nonmusicians. Finally, musicians also showed enhanced P3b components to both tonal and segmental variations. These results clearly show that musical expertise influenced the perceptual processing as well as the categorization of linguistic contrasts in a foreign language. They show positive music-to-language transfer effects and open new perspectives for the learning of tone languages.

Auditory and visual cortical activity during selective attention in fragile X syndrome: A cascade of processing deficiencies

ObjectiveThis study examined whether attention deficits in fragile X syndrome (FXS) can be traced back to abnormalities in basic information processing. MethodSixteen males with FXS and 22 age-matched control participants (mean age 29years) performed a standard oddball task to examine selective attention in both auditory and visual modalities. Five FXS males were excluded from analysis because they performed below chance level on the auditory task. ERPs were recorded to investigate the N1, P2, N2b, and P3b components. ResultsN1 and N2b components were significantly enhanced in FXS males to both auditory and visual stimuli. Interestingly, in FXS males, the P3b to auditory stimuli was significantly reduced relative to visual stimuli. These modality differences in information processing corresponded to behavioral results, showing more errors on the auditory than on the visual task. ConclusionsThe current findings suggest that attentional impairments in FXS at the behavioral level can be traced back to abnormalities in event-related cortical activity. These information processing abnormalities in FXS may hinder the allocation of attentional resources needed for optimal processing at higher-levels. SignificanceThese findings demonstrate that auditory information processing in FXS males is critically impaired relative to visual information processing.

Electrophysiological indices of altered working memory processes in long‐term ecstasy users

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of light long-term ecstasy consumption on verbal short-term and working memory and to identify the cognitive processes contributing to task performance. Electroencephalogram was recorded while ecstasy users (N = 11), polydrug users (N = 13), and non-users (N = 13) completed forward and backward serial recognition tasks designed to engage verbal short-term memory and verbal working memory, respectively. All three groups displayed significantly lower digit-backward span than digit-forward span with ecstasy users displaying the greatest difference. The parietally distributed P3b was significantly smaller in the digits backward task than in the digits forward task in non-ecstasy-using controls. Ecstasy users did not show the reduced P3b component in the backward task that was seen in both non-ecstasy-using control groups. Ecstasy users' performance was suppressed more by the concurrent processing demands of the working memory task than that of the non-ecstasy-using controls. Non-ecstasy-using controls showed differential event-related potential wave forms in the short-term and working memory tasks, and this pattern was not seen in the ecstasy users. This is consistent with a reduction in the cognitive resources allocated to processing in working memory in ecstasy users.

The possibility of using biofeedback for training the amplitude of independent components of event-related potentials

The possibility of voluntary training of the independent component of event-related potentials (ERPs) by the method of biological feedback (BFB) using a modified two-stimulus test of Go/NoGo paradigm was studied. Ten subjects had to increase the amplitude of the P3b component of ERPs induced by the Go stimulus during one training session. This component is generated in the parietal cortex and is associated with an operation of action engagement. The study consisted of three sessions that included determination of the average amplitude, training, and placebo. It was found that the amplitude of the P3b component did not significantly change during the training and placebo sessions as compared to the session of threshold measurement, whereas the amplitude of the SPD component, which was also observed in ERPs in response to the Go stimulus, significantly decreased in both sessions. According to the sLORETA data, the source of the SPD component is located in the parahippocampal area. The results obtained help to determine further pathways to study the possibility of the use of BFB for correction of components of cognitive evoked potentials.

The response-locked P3 component as indicator of pathophysiology in parkinson's disease

Event Abstract Back to Event The response-locked P3 component as indicator of pathophysiology in parkinson's disease Rolf Verleger1* 1 University of Lübeck, Germany For long, the P3b component of the event-related EEG potential has been considered an indicator of response-independent processes. Correspondingly, studies on the P3 component in Parkinson's disease have looked at stimulus-locked averages only. Differences between patients and healthy persons remained diffuse. However, P3b actually forms a bridge between stimulus and response in healthy persons (Gerson et al., 2005; Verleger et al., 2005) with latencies and amplitudes of P3 peaks varying across trials in such a way that P3 waves are equally large in stimulus-locked and response-locked averages. Research on basal ganglia has suggested that making stimulus-response sequences precede automatically is a most relevant function of these structures. Therefore, when studying disorders of basal ganglia, as Parkinson's disease, it might make sense to focus on P3's function as a bridge between stimuli and responses. Thus, we compared stimulus- and response-locked P3b between patients with Parkinson's disease and healthy control groups in a choice-response task. In patients, P3 was distinctly smaller in response-locked than in stimulus-locked averages whereas, again, both amplitudes were equal in healthy participants. The difference in patients was due to a fronto-central negative shift, overlapping P3 during the final 100 ms before the response. Presumably, in order to compensate for the deficient automatic process, patients have to use additional activation of their supplementary motor areas. This difference is diluted when averaging is stimulus-locked. The specific reduction of response-locked P3 might qualify as a marker of basal-ganglia dysfunction. Keywords: Attention, Parkinson Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Neurophysiology of Cognition and Attention Citation: Verleger R (2011). The response-locked P3 component as indicator of pathophysiology in parkinson's disease. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00321 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 22 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Dr. Rolf Verleger, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany, 665948@frontiersin.org Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Rolf Verleger Google Rolf Verleger Google Scholar Rolf Verleger PubMed Rolf Verleger Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Electrophysiological correlates of the composite face illusion: Disentangling perceptual and decisional components of holistic face processing in the human brain

When the bottom halves of two faces differ, people’s behavioral judgment of the identical top halves of those faces is impaired: they report that the top halves are different, and/or take more time than usual to provide a response. This behavioral measure is known as the composite face effect (CFE) and has traditionally been taken as evidence that faces are perceived holistically. Recently, however, it has been claimed that this effect is driven almost entirely by decisional, rather than perceptual, factors ( Richler, Gauthier, Wenger, & Palmeri, 2008). To disentangle the contribution of perceptual and decisional brain processes, we aimed to obtain an event-related potential (ERP) measure of the CFE at a stage of face encoding ( Jacques & Rossion, 2009) in the absence of a behavioral CFE effect. Sixteen participants performed a go/no-go task in an oddball paradigm, lifting a finger of their right or left hand when the top half of a face changed identity. This change of identity of the top of the face was associated with an increased ERP signal on occipito-temporal electrode sites at the N170 face-sensitive component (∼160 ms), the later decisional P3b component, and the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) starting at ∼350 ms. The N170 effect was observed equally early when only the unattended bottom part of the face changed, indicating that an identity change was perceived across the whole face in this condition. Importantly, there was no behavioral response bias for the bottom change trials, and no evidence of decisional biases from electrophysiological data (no P3b and LRP deflection in no-go trials). These data show that an early CFE can be measured in ERPs in the absence of any decisional response bias, indicating that the CFE reflects primarily the visual perception of the whole face.

Spatio-temporal brain dynamics in a combined stimulus–stimulus and stimulus–response conflict task

It is yet not well known whether different types of conflicts share common or rely on distinct brain mechanisms of conflict processing. We used a combined Flanker (stimulus–stimulus; S–S) and Simon (stimulus–response; S–R) conflict paradigm both in an fMRI and an EEG study. S–S conflicts induced stronger behavioral interference effects compared to S–R conflicts and the latter decayed with increasing response latencies. Besides some similar medial frontal activity across all conflict trials, which was, however, not statically consistent across trials, we especially found distinct activations depending on the type of conflict. S–S conflicts activated the anterior cingulate cortex and modulated the N2 and early P3 component with underlying source activity in inferior frontal cortex. S–R conflicts produced distinct activations in the posterior cingulate cortex and modulated the late P3b component with underlying source activity in superior parietal cortex. Double conflict trials containing both S–S and S–R conflicts revealed, first, distinct anterior frontal activity representing a meta-processing unit and, second, a sequential modulation of the N2 and the P3b component. The N2 modulation during double conflict trials was accompanied by increased source activity in the medial frontal gyrus (MeFG). In summary, S–S and S–R conflict processing mostly rely on distinct mechanisms of conflict processing and these conflicts differentially modulate the temporal stages of stimulus processing.

Spatial cueing in time–space synesthetes: An event-related brain potential study

Some people report that they consistently and involuntarily associate time events, such as months of the year, with specific spatial locations; a condition referred to as time–space synesthesia. The present study investigated the manner in which such synesthetic time–space associations affect visuo-spatial attention via an endogenous cuing paradigm. Reaction times and ERPs were recorded as 12 time–space synesthetes and 12 control participants did a peripheral target detection task, cued by three different types of centrally presented cues: arrows pointing left or right, direction words “left” or “right”, and month names associated with either the left or the right side of the synesthete’s mental calendar (e.g., “October” or “May”). Cues were followed by probes on the left or right side of the screen, and participants responded to the probes with button presses. Behavioral and ERP data suggested that for synesthetes, month words functioned more effectively as cues to direct attention in space. In synesthetes but not controls, a comparison of ERPs to probes cued by months revealed effects of cue validity on the P3b component peaking 370 ms post-onset and on the subsequent positive slow wave (pSW) observed 600–900 ms post-onset (both larger for invalid probes). No effects of cue validity were observed on early visual potentials (N1) for probes cued by months. The findings suggest that in these time–space synesthetes cue validity influenced post-perceptual processes, such as stimulus evaluation and categorization, with no evidence for enhanced visual processing.

Concussions And Heading Exposure Cause Cognitive Impairments In Soccer Players

The effect of cumulative heading in soccer (Association Football) on cognitive functioning remains an issue of debate. Several studies suggest that heading might cause sub-concussive blows to the head and that repeated heading could eventually lead to cognitive impairment. However, the interpretation of the data remains limited because of methodological issues (e.g., lack of appropriate control group and poor control for previous head injuries). PURPOSE: To determine the relative contribution of sport-related concussions and heading on the cognitive functioning of university soccer athletes. METHODS: We measured cognitive functioning in three groups of athletes using standardized neuropsychological tests and by means of event-related potentials elicited by a 3 stimulus oddball paradigm. The participants in the study were soccer players without a history of concussion (n = 18), soccer players who sustained one or more concussions (n = 22), and athletes from a non contact sport (volleyball, tennis, and badminton) who never sustained a concussion (n = 22). Group comparisons were investigated with a series of ANOVA's. RESULTS: No group differences were found for any of the neuropsychological tests used (p >0.05). Compared to the non contact sport athletes, the concussed soccer players had a significantly lower amplitude for the P3b component of their ERP waveform (F 2,58 = 3,278; p < 0.05). The results for the concussed and non concussed soccer athletes were not significantly different (p >0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Reductions in the P3b amplitude for the soccer players compared to the non contact sport athletes reflects subtitle deficits in the attentional processes related to updating information in working memory. These results also suggest that heading exposure alone affects cognitive processing in soccer athletes.

Prenatal exposure to methylmercury and PCBs affects distinct stages of information processing: An event-related potential study with Inuit children

Methylmercury (MeHg) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are seafood contaminants known for their adverse effects on neurodevelopment. This study examines the relation of developmental exposure to these contaminants to information processing assessed with event-related potentials (ERPs) in school-aged Inuit children from Nunavik (Arctic Québec). In a prospective longitudinal study on child development, exposure to contaminants was measured at birth and 11 years of age. An auditory oddball protocol was administered at 11 years to measure ERP components N1 and P3b. Multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the associations of levels of the contaminants to auditory oddball performance (mean reaction time, omission errors and false alarms) and ERP parameters (latency and amplitude) after control for potential confounding variables. A total of 118 children provided useable ERP data. Prenatal MeHg exposure was associated with slower reaction times and fewer false alarms during the oddball task. Analyses of the ERP parameters revealed that prenatal MeHg exposure was related to greater amplitude and delayed latency of the N1 wave in the target condition but not to the P3b component. MeHg effects on the N1 were stronger after control for seafood nutrients. Prenatal PCB exposure was not related to any endpoint for sample as a whole but was associated with a decrease in P3b amplitude in the subgroup of children who had been breast-fed for less than 3 months. Body burdens of MeHg and PCBs at 11 years were not related to any of the behavioural or ERP measures. These data suggest that prenatal MeHg exposure alters attentional mechanisms modulating early processing of sensory information. By contrast, prenatal PCB exposure appears to affect information processing at later stages, when the information is being consciously evaluated. These effects seem to be mitigated in children who are breast-fed for a more extended period.

Behavioural correlates of the P3b event-related potential in school-age children

The latency and amplitude of the P3b component of event-related potentials (ERPs) have been related to behavioural performance on several attention and memory tasks in adult populations. However, the extent to which these results apply to children is unknown. This study examined the neurobehavioral correlates of the P3b component in a longitudinal sample of school-age children from Arctic Québec. Children ( N = 110; mean age = 11.3 years) were assessed on an ERP auditory oddball paradigm and a neurobehavioral evaluation targeting several aspects of cognition, including the Stewart Extended Continuous Performance Test (E-CPT), California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), Stroop Color-Word Interference Test, and five subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth edition (WISC-IV). P3b latency was positively related to reaction time measures and negatively associated with performance on the WISC-IV Digit Span Forward subtest. Amplitude of the P3b was associated with shorter completion time on the Stroop test and better delayed recognition memory performance among children who did not use semantic strategies on the CVLT. Profile analyses revealed no difference in scalp distribution of the P3b according to performance on these tests. The results are consistent with previous studies with older participants and suggest that, despite age-related differences in waveform and scalp distribution, the P3b component relates to similar neurocognitive processes in children and adults.

Neurophysiological markers of novelty processing are modulated by COMT and DRD4 genotypes

Humans are faced with the dilemma to maintain a stable cognitive set on the one hand and to be able to redirect and switch attention to novel stimuli of potential importance. The dopaminergic system has been implicated in the balance between these two antagonistic constraints and in particular in novelty processing. Here we studied the impact of two polymorphisms affecting dopaminergic functioning (COMT Val108/158Met and DRD4 SNP −521) on neurophysiological correlates of novelty processing. Recording event-related potentials (ERPs) and oscillatory activity in a modified oddball task that featured infrequent but task-irrelevant novel sounds in addition to frequent standard and rare target tones, we examined participants homozygous for the Met or Val variant of COMT as well as homozygous for the C or T variant of DRD4. We found effects mainly on the P3a component to novel stimuli. A greater P3a amplitude was found for the COMT-ValVal group relative to MetMet. There was a tendency for DRD4-TT participants to show greater P3a amplitude and shorter P3a latency. Finally, DRD4-TT and COMT-ValVal participants showed the greatest increase of theta-power to novel stimuli. By contrast, the P3b component to target stimuli showed little influence of the studied polymorphism. Individual differences in dopaminergic genes explain part of the interindividual variance in the neural correlates of novelty but not target processing.

An ERP study of age-related differences in the central cost of interlimb coordination

The study investigated event-related EEG potentials during concurrent performance of interlimb coordination and visual oddball tasks by younger and older adults. Coordination task difficulty was equated between age groups by allowing participants to perform the task at self-determined frequencies. The amplitude of the P3b component of the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by visual task targets showed a different pattern across midline sites (Fz, Cz, Pz) for younger and older adults. While younger adults showed a parietal maximum, P3b amplitudes in older adults did not differ across midline site, with lower amplitudes at central and parietal sites than younger adults but higher amplitude at the frontal site. Younger adults also had significantly shorter P3b latency than older adults. The results suggest that older adults may rely more on cognitive control of their movements than younger adults.