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 article examines the role of attention and automaticity in auditory processing as revealed by event-related potential (ERP) research. An ERP component called the mismatch negativity , generated by the brain's automatic response to changes in repetitive auditory input, reveals that physical features of auditory stimuli are fully processed whether or not they are attended. It also suggests that there exist precise neuronal representations of the physical features of recent auditory stimuli, perhaps the traces underlying acoustic sensory (“echoic”) memory. A mechanism of passive attention switching in response to changes in repetitive input is also implicated. Conscious perception of discrete acoustic stimuli might be mediated by some of the mechanisms underlying another ERP component (NI), one sensitive to stimulus onset and offset. Frequent passive attentional shifts might accountforthe effect cognitive psychologists describe as “the breakthrough of the unattended” (Broadbent 1982), that is, that even unattended stimuli may be semantically processed, without assuming automatic semantic processing or late selection in selective attention. The processing negativity supports the early-selection theory and may arise from a mechanism for selectively attending to stimuli defined by certain features. This stimulus selection occurs in the form ofa matching process in which each input is compared with the “attentional trace,” a voluntarily maintained representation of the task-relevant features of the stimulus to be attended. The attentional mechanism described might underlie the stimulus-set mode of attention proposed by Broadbent. Finally, a model of automatic and attentional processing in audition is proposed that is based mainly on the aforementioned ERP components and some other physiological measures.

The role of attention in auditory information processing as revealed by event-related potentials and other brain measures of cognitive function

Cognitive and biological determinants of P300: an integrative review

P3 is the most prominent of the electrical potentials of the human electroencephalogram that are sensitive to psychological variables. According to the most influential current hypothesis about its psychological significance [E. Donchin's], the “context updating” hypothesis, P3 reflects the updating of working memory. This hypothesis cannot account for relevant portions of the available evidence and it entails some basic contradictions. A more general formulation of this hypothesis is that P3 reflects the updating of expectancies. This version implies that P3-evoking stimuli are initially unexpected but later become expected. This contradiction cannot be resolved within this formulation. The alternative “context closure” hypothesis retains the concept of “strategic information processing” emphasized by the context updating hypothesis. P3s are evoked by events that are awaited when subjects deal with repetitive, highly structured tasks; P3s arise from subjects' combining successive stimuli into larger units. The tasks in which P3s are elicited can accordingly be classified in terms of their respective formal sequences of stimuli. P3 may be a physiological indicator of excess activation being released from perceptual control areas.

Event-related potentials and cognition: A critique of the context updating hypothesis and an alternative interpretation of P3

: This report reviews research on physiological metrics of mental workload performed in the last decade. The focus of the review is on measurement techniques that have potential for fundamental explanation of mental workload and for use in operational environments. The techniques are examined within a framework of measurement criteria. These criteria include: sensitivity, diagnosticity, intrusiveness, reliability, and generality of application. Over 200 articles are covered by the review. Measures reviewed include: electroencephalograms, event-related potentials, magnetoencephalograms, positron emission tomography, electro-oculograms, cardiovascular measures, pupillometry, respiratory measures, and electrodetmal measures. Keywords: Mental workload, Physiological metrics, Electroencephalogram, Magnetoencephalogram, Cardiovascular function, Pupillometry, Respiration, Electrodermal responses.

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Physiological metrics of mental workload: A review of recent progress

Habituation of early and late visual ERP components and the orienting reaction: the effect of stimulus information.

Time effects on event-related brain potentials and vigilance performance.

Single trial event-related potentials at Fz, CZ, P7, and OZ were measured concurrently with the skin conductance response (SCR) in a habituation paradigm. Half the subjects (26) were told that the same stimulus would be presented a number of times in the middle of a TV screen (“certain condition”), and the other half were not informed about the stimuli (“uncertain condition”). Within each of these groups, half of the subjects received 32 stimuli of 4 bits of information and the other half received 32 stimuli of 60 bits of information. No task-relevance was given to the stimuli. Larger vertex P300 waves were associated with more complex stimuli, but uncertainty had no effect on the P300. A significant complexity × uncertainty × trials interaction was found on a sustained late positive activity, called the Slow Wave (SW), which was maximal at Pz and habituated rapidly. As before, we found that both the SCR and the vertex P300 habituated. No effect of uncertainty or complexity was found on the SCR. The results suggest that the SW is a useful index of information processing, and that the SCR and P300 must be considered to index different aspects of information processing.

Different Effects of Uncertainty and Complexity on Single Trial Visual ERPs and the SCR‐OR in Non‐Signal Conditions

Effects of task relevance on habituation of visual single-trial ERPs and the skin conductance orienting response

https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/24680/verbaten_80_influence%20of%20task%20relevance.pdf;sequence=1

W. Sjouw

Papers

Habituation of early and late visual ERP components and the orienting reaction: the effect of stimulus information.

Time effects on event-related brain potentials and vigilance performance.

Different Effects of Uncertainty and Complexity on Single Trial Visual ERPs and the SCR‐OR in Non‐Signal Conditions

Effects of task relevance on habituation of visual single-trial ERPs and the skin conductance orienting response

The influence of task relevance and stimulus information on habituation of the visual and the skin conductance orienting reaction