Changes in the form of the cerebral evoked response related to the speed of simple reaction time

Electroencephalography and Clinical NeurophysiologyPublished 1 August 1970

Hugh Bostock, M. J. Jarvis

Citations50

TL;DR

Neither the form of the evoked response nor the speed of RT was related to the phase of the cardiac cycle at which the stimulus was presented, and the N 2 component was interpreted as an index of the moment-to-moment level of arousal.

Abstract

The relationship between simple auditory reaction time (RT) and form of the cerebral evoked potential was studied in an experiment with eighteen normal subjects. Stimuli were presented in a fixed relationship to the subjects cardiac cycle, and the data were analysed separately in terms of (1) phase of cardiac cycle at which the stimulus was presented, (2) speed of RT and (3) time in the experiment. The amplitude and latency of a wave of around 250 msec latency (N2) were found to relate very strongly, both within and across subjects, to the speed of RT. Amplitudes of earlier components, while also related to RT, were equally or more associated with time in the experiment. The N2 component was interpreted as an index of the moment-to-moment level of arousal. Neither the form of the evoked response nor the speed of RT was related to the phase of the cardiac cycle at which the stimulus was presented. La relation entre le temps de réaction auditif simple (RT) et la forme du potentiel évoqué cérébral a été étudiée dans une expérimentation portant sur dix-huit sujets normaux. Des stimuli sont présentés, avec une relation fixe au cycle cardiaque du sujet, et les données ont été analysées séparément en termes de (1) phase du cycle cardiaque à laquelle le stimulus est présenté, (2) vitesse du temps de réaction et (3) temps à l'intérieur de l'expérience. L'amplitude et la latence d'une onde d'environ 250 msec de latence (N2) s'est trouvée en très forte liaison à la fois intra et inter-individuelle avec la vitesse du temps de réaction. Les amplitudes des composantes plus précoces, bien qu'elles soient également liées au temps de réaction, étaient associées de façon égale ou supérieure au temps dans l'expérience. La composante N2 est interprétée comme un index de niveau instantané d'arousal. Ni la morphologie de la réponse évoquée, ni la vitesse du temps de réaction n'ont montré de la relation avec la phase du cycle cardiaque à laquelle le stimulus était présenté.

Keywords

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