To understand the endogenous components of the event-related brain potential (ERP), we must use data about the components' antecedent conditions to form hypotheses about the information-processing function of the underlying brain activity These hypotheses, in turn, generate testable predictions about the consequences of the component We review the application of this approach to the analysis of the P300 component The amplitude of the P300 is controlled multiplicatively by the subjective probability and the task relevance of the eliciting events, whereas its latency depends on the duration of stimulus evaluation These and other factors suggest that the P300 is a manifestation of activity occurring whenever one's model of the environment must be revised Tests of three predictions based on this “context updating” model are reviewed Verleger's critique is based on a misconstrual of the model as well as a partial and misleading reading of the relevant literature

Is the P300 component a manifestation of context updating

This paper reviews the literature on the Nl wave of the human auditory evoked potential. It concludes that at least six different cerebral processes can contribute to (he negative wave recorded from the scalp with a peak latency between 50 and 150 ms: a component generated in the auditory-cortex on the supratemporal plane, a component generated in the association cortex on the lateral aspect of the temporal and parietal cortex, a component generated in the motor and premotor cortices, the mismatch negativity, a temporal component of the processing negativity, and a frontal component of the processing negativity, The first three, which can be considered ‘true’ N1 components, are controlled by the physical and temporal aspects of the stimulus and by the general state of the subject. The other three components are not necessarily elicited by a stimulus but depend on the conditions in which the stimulus occurs. They often last much longer than the true N1 components that they overlap.

The N1 wave of the human electric and magnetic response to sound: a review and an analysis of the component structure

The mismatch negativity (MMN) in basic research of central auditory processing: a review.

In the present article, the basic research using the mismatch negativity (MMN) and analogous results obtained by using the magnetoencephalography (MEG) and other brain-imaging technologies is reviewed. This response is elicited by any discriminable change in auditory stimulation but recent studies extended the notion of the MMN even to higher-order cognitive processes such as those involving grammar and semantic meaning. Moreover, MMN data also show the presence of automatic intelligent processes such as stimulus anticipation at the level of auditory cortex. In addition, the MMN enables one to establish the brain processes underlying the initiation of attention switch to, conscious perception of, sound change in an unattended stimulus stream. 2007 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Invited review The mismatch negativity (MMN) in basic research of central auditory processing: A review

Voluntary acts are preceded by electrophysiological “ readiness potentials” (RPs). With spontaneous acts involving no preplanning, the main negative RP shift begins at about -550 ms. Such RPs were used to indicate the minimum onset times for the cerebral activity that precedes a fully endogenous voluntary act. The time of conscious intention to act was obtained from the subject’s recall of the spatial clock position of a revolving spot at the time of his initial awareness of intending or wanting to move (W). W occurred at about -200 ms. Control experiments, in which a skin stimulus was timed (S), helped evaluate each subject’s error in reporting the clock times for awareness of any perceived event.

Unconscious cerebral initiative and the role of conscious will in voluntary action

Early selective-attention effect on evoked potential reinterpreted ☆

The duration of a neuronal trace of an auditory stimulus as indicated by event-related potentials.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the brain potential correlates of voluntary and involuntary attention. The division of attention into voluntary and involuntary forms has a long tradition. The former concept refers to our ability to attend voluntarily and selectively, to some stimulus source in environment. For example, at a cocktail party one can selectively listen to any speaker and usually get the message at the expense of others speaking simultaneously (“the cocktail-party phenomenon”). This form of attention is internally rather than stimulus-determined; it is determined by motives, by self-instruction, or by obedience to instructions given by the experimenter. On the other hand, certain kinds of stimuli are attention-catching such as unexpected sudden changes in a constant environment and strong or threatening stimuli in a less constant environment. Here the stimulus rather than the organism is the originator of an attentive act or response in the organism and therefore this form of attention can be characterized as involuntary and it appears to be closely related to the orienting reflex.

S. Mantysalo

Papers

Early selective-attention effect on evoked potential reinterpreted ☆

The duration of a neuronal trace of an auditory stimulus as indicated by event-related potentials.

Brain Potential Correlates of Voluntary and Involuntary Attention

Event-related potentials (ERPs) in a learning and memory test.

S2 probability and CNV