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Horat SK, Herrmann FR, Favre G, Terzis J, Debatisse D, Merlo MCG, Missonnier P. Assessment of mental workload: A new electrophysiological method based on intra-block averaging of ERP amplitudes. Neuropsychologia 2015; 82:11-17. [PMID: 26724546 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2015] [Revised: 12/02/2015] [Accepted: 12/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The present study contributes to the current debate about electrophysiological measurements of mental workload. Specifically, the allocation of attentional resources during different complexity levels of tasks and its changes over time are of great interest. Therefore, we investigated mental workload using tasks varying in difficulty during an auditory oddball target paradigm. For data analysis, we applied a novel method to compute event-related potentials (ERPs) by intra-block epoch averaging of P2, P3a and P3b amplitude components for the infrequent target stimuli. We obtained eight consecutive blocks of 5 epochs each, which allowed us to develop an electrophysiological parameter to measure mental workload. In both the easy and the more constraining tasks, the amplitude of P2 decreased beginning with the second block of the sequence. In contrast, the amplitudes of P3a and P3b components linearly decreased following the repetition of the target in the more constraining task, but not in the easy task. Statistical analysis revealed intra-block differences on amplitudes of ERPs of interest between the easy and the more constraining tasks, confirming this method as a measure to assess mental workload. Since a subject is his own control, the present method represents an electrophysiological parameter for individual measurement of mental workload and may therefore be applicable in clinical routine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sibylle K Horat
- Unit of Psychiatric Neuroscience and Psychotherapy, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Science, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 5, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - François R Herrmann
- Department of Rehabilitation and Geriatrics, University Hospitals of Geneva, 2 chemin du Petit-Bel-Air, Chêne-Bourg, Geneva 1225, Switzerland
| | - Grégoire Favre
- Mental Health Network Fribourg (RFSM), Sector of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy for Adults, L'Hôpital 140, Case postale 90, 1633 Marsens, Switzerland
| | - Jorge Terzis
- HELIOS Privatkliniken GmbH - Wuppertal-Universität/Barmen, Heusnerstrasse 40, 42283 Wuppertal, Germany; Department of Neurosurgery, Universität Kliniken der Stadt Köln gGmbH, Krankenhaus Merheim, 51109 Köln, Germany
| | - Damien Debatisse
- HELIOS Privatkliniken GmbH - Wuppertal-Universität/Barmen, Heusnerstrasse 40, 42283 Wuppertal, Germany; Department of Neurosurgery, Universität Kliniken der Stadt Köln gGmbH, Krankenhaus Merheim, 51109 Köln, Germany
| | - Marco C G Merlo
- Unit of Psychiatric Neuroscience and Psychotherapy, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Science, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 5, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Pascal Missonnier
- Unit of Psychiatric Neuroscience and Psychotherapy, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Science, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 5, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; Mental Health Network Fribourg (RFSM), Sector of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy for Adults, L'Hôpital 140, Case postale 90, 1633 Marsens, Switzerland.
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Consecutive repetition effects for affective-distractor pictures in a visual oddball task: Electrophysiological evidence from an ERP study. Brain Res 2013; 1517:68-76. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2013.04.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2012] [Revised: 04/04/2013] [Accepted: 04/07/2013] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
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San Martín R. Event-related potential studies of outcome processing and feedback-guided learning. Front Hum Neurosci 2012; 6:304. [PMID: 23162451 PMCID: PMC3491353 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 223] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2012] [Accepted: 10/22/2012] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In order to control behavior in an adaptive manner the brain has to learn how some situations and actions predict positive or negative outcomes. During the last decade cognitive neuroscientists have shown that the brain is able to evaluate and learn from outcomes within a few hundred milliseconds of their occurrence. This research has been primarily focused on the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and the P3, two event-related potential (ERP) components that are elicited by outcomes. The FRN is a frontally distributed negative-polarity ERP component that typically reaches its maximal amplitude 250 ms after outcome presentation and tends to be larger for negative than for positive outcomes. The FRN has been associated with activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The P3 (~300–600 ms) is a parietally distributed positive-polarity ERP component that tends to be larger for large magnitude than for small magnitude outcomes. The neural sources of the P3 are probably distributed over different regions of the cortex. This paper examines the theories that have been proposed to explain the functional role of these two ERP components during outcome processing. Special attention is paid to extant literature addressing how these ERP components are modulated by outcome valence (negative vs. positive), outcome magnitude (large vs. small), outcome probability (unlikely vs. likely), and behavioral adjustment. The literature offers few generalizable conclusions, but is beset with a number of inconsistencies across studies. This paper discusses the potential reasons for these inconsistencies and points out some challenges that probably will shape the field over the next decade.
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Affiliation(s)
- René San Martín
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University Durham, NC, USA ; Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University Durham, NC, USA ; Facultad de Economía y Empresa, Centro de Neuroeconomía, Universidad Diego Portales Santiago, Chile
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Music training and working memory: an ERP study. Neuropsychologia 2011; 49:1083-1094. [PMID: 21315092 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 149] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2010] [Revised: 12/22/2010] [Accepted: 02/01/2011] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
While previous research has suggested that music training is associated with improvements in various cognitive and linguistic skills, the mechanisms mediating or underlying these associations are mostly unknown. Here, we addressed the hypothesis that previous music training is related to improved working memory. Using event-related potentials (ERPs) and a standardized test of working memory, we investigated both neural and behavioral aspects of working memory in college-aged, non-professional musicians and non-musicians. Behaviorally, musicians outperformed non-musicians on standardized subtests of visual, phonological, and executive memory. ERPs were recorded in standard auditory and visual oddball paradigms (participants responded to infrequent deviant stimuli embedded in lists of standard stimuli). Electrophysiologically, musicians demonstrated faster updating of working memory (shorter latency P300s) in both the auditory and visual domains and musicians allocated more neural resources to auditory stimuli (larger amplitude P300), showing increased sensitivity to the auditory standard/deviant difference and less effortful updating of auditory working memory. These findings demonstrate that long-term music training is related to improvements in working memory, in both the auditory and visual domains and in terms of both behavioral and ERP measures.
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