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E Donchin

Publications and source records attributed to E Donchin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

On the transmission of partial information: inferences from movement-related brain potentials.

Results are reported from a new paradigm that uses movement-related brain potentials to detect response preparation based on partial information. The paradigm uses a hybrid choice-reaction go/nogo procedure in which decisions about response hand and whether to respond are based on separate stimulus attributes. A lateral asymmetry in the movement-related brain potential was found on nogo trials without overt movement. The direction of this asymmetry depended primarily on the signaled response hand rather than on properties of the stimulus. When the asymmetry first appeared was influenced by the time required to select the signaled hand, and when it began to differ on go and nogo trials was influenced by the time to decide whether to respond. These findings indicate that both stimulus attributes were processed in parallel and that the asymmetry reflected preparation of the response hand that began before the go/nogo decision was completed.

Decision Making↗
PubMed1992

Optimizing the use of information: strategic control of activation of responses.

Recent studies indicate that subjects may respond to visual information during either an early parallel phase or a later focused phase and that the selection of the relevant phase is data driven. Using the noise-compatibility paradigm, we tested the hypothesis that this selection may also be strategic and context driven. At least part of the interference effect observed in this paradigm is due to response activation during the parallel-processing phase. We manipulated subjects' expectancies for compatible and incompatible noise in 4 experiments and effectively modulated the interference effect. The results suggest that expectancies about the relative utility of the information extracted during the parallel and focused phases determine which phase is used to activate responses.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

While an undergraduate waits.

The search for the intracranial sources of components of the ERP using non-human species can benefit from an analysis of the functional significance of these components. Such analysis provides criteria, based on the response of the components to experimental manipulations, for identifying those aspects of the ERP recorded in other species that are analogous to specific ERP components recorded from human subjects. This thesis is illustrated by examining the problems presented by the data recorded in monkeys by Donchin et al. (Electroenceph. clin. Neurophysiol. 31, 115-127, 1971). The different ERP components they observed in the monkeys could not be fully interpreted because a detailed analysis of the ERPs recorded during similar paradigms in humans was lacking. We review studies of the Lateralized Readiness Potential using human subjects which indicate how the activity recorded during such waiting intervals which specifically relates to motor preparation can be identified.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

The truth will out: interrogative polygraphy ("lie detection") with event-related brain potentials.

The feasibility of using Event Related Brain Potentials (ERPs) in Interrogative Polygraphy ("Lie Detection") was tested by examining the effectiveness of the Guilty Knowledge Test designed by Farwell and Donchin (1986, 1988). The subject is assigned an arbitrary task requiring discrimination between experimenter-designated targets and other, irrelevant stimuli. A group of diagnostic items ("probes"), which to the unwitting are indistinguishable from the irrelevant items, are embedded among the irrelevant. For subjects who possess "guilty knowledge" these probes are distinct from the irrelevants and are likely to elicit a P300, thus revealing their possessing the special knowledge that allows them to differentiate the probes from the irrelevants. We report two experiments in which this paradigm was tested. In Experiment 1, 20 subjects participated in one of two mock espionage scenarios and were tested for their knowledge of both scenarios. All stimuli consisted of short phrases presented for 300 ms each at an interstimulus interval of 1550 ms. A set of items were designated as "targets" and appeared on 17% of the trials. Probes related to the scenarios also appeared on 17% of the trials. The rest of the items were irrelevants. Subjects responded by pressing one switch following targets, and the other following irrelevants (and, of course, probes). ERPs were recorded from FZ, CZ, and PZ. As predicted, targets elicited large P300s in all subjects. Probes associated with a given scenario elicited a P300 in subjects who participated in that scenario. A bootstrapping method was used to assess the quality of the decision for each subject. The algorithm declared the decision indeterminate in 12.5% of the cases. In all other cases a decision was made. There were no false positives and no false negatives: whenever a determination was made it was accurate. The second experiment was virtually identical to the first, with identical results, except that this time 4 subjects were tested, each of which had a minor brush with the law. Subjects were tested to determine whether they possessed information on their own "crimes." The results were as expected; the Guilty Knowledge Test determined correctly which subject possessed which information. The implications of these data both for the practice of Interrogative Polygraphy and the interpretation of the P300 are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Event-related brain potentials as indices of information extraction and response priming.

Measures of overt response and of the event-related brain potential (ERP) were used to investigate the processing of a priming stimulus varying in its information content. Subjects were shown sequences of 2 letters that served as a priming and an imperative stimulus. In 3 randomly interspersed conditions the imperative stimulus had a 0.80, 0.50, or 0.20 probability of physically matching the priming letter. The different probability conditions were signaled by the position of a dot flanking the priming letter. Reaction time and accuracy data indicated that the subjects primed their responses as a function of the information conveyed by the priming stimulus. The amplitude and latency of the P300 to the priming stimulus were sensitive to the amount of information conveyed by the priming stimulus and the duration of the processing required. The readiness potential in the foreperiod was lateralized as a function of the priming stimulus. Furthermore, the larger the amplitude of the P300 to the priming stimulus, the larger the lateralization of the readiness potential, indicating that information extraction, indexed by the P300, was related to response priming, indexed by the readiness potential. The results indicate that ERP measures make manifest covert aspects of the priming process occurring in the foreperiod.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Effects of mnemonic strategy manipulation in a Von Restorff paradigm.

Subjects were instructed to use either rote or elaborative strategies to memorize words in a Von Restorff paradigm. When instructed to use rote strategies, subjects displayed a higher Von Restorff effect and a lower recall performance than when instructed to use elaborative strategies. Furthermore the amplitude of the P300 component of the event-related brain potential predicted subsequent recall only when subjects used rote strategies. When subjects used elaborative strategies, the relationship between P300 amplitude and subsequent recall was not observed. These results confirm and expand, in a within-subjects design, the results reported by Karis, Fabiani and Donchin (1984) who capitalized on different strategies used by different subjects. These results also lend support to a 3-phase model of the von Restorff effect.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

The independence of the P300 and the CNV reviewed: a reply to Wastell.

The relationship of P300 to the CNV was investigated by Donchin, Tueting, Ritter, Kutas and Heffley (1975) who concluded that these two components of the event-related brain potential (ERP) are independent. Wastell (1979) questioned the validity of the data analysis procedures and of the experimental design used by Donchin et al. In this report we examine Wastell's criticisms and find them to be unfounded. In support of this conclusion we note the differences between principal component analysis and factor analysis. We clarify points about Donchin et al.'s experimental design, and we review evidence for the independence of the P300 and the CNV that has accumulated since 1975.

Contingent Negative Variation↗
PubMed1978

On how P300 amplitude varies with the utility of the eliciting stimuli.

The bulk of the relevant evidence indicates that stimuli which elicit the P300 component of the human event-related potential (ERP) tend to be unexpected and task relevant. Yet, contradictory evidence has been presented which implied that P300 amplitude is modulated by the intensity difference between two equally relevant, equally probable feedback stimuli (Adams and Benson, 1973). The two experiments reported here were designed to clarify this contradiction. Subjects were instructed to press a button one second after a cue light. A tone at one of two intensities was presented 200 msec later indicating whether the time estimate was 'correct' or 'incorrect'. The magnitude of P300 varied as a function of the difference in intensity between S+ and S-; the smaller the difference, the smaller was P300, regardless of stimulus meaning (S+ or S-). We attribute this effect to the degree to which the subject chooses to utilize the tones in the performance of the time estimation task. In support of this hypothesis, we found that performance of the subjects as time estimators degraded as the difference between S+ and S- decreased. Moreover, a study of choice reaction times taken for the different pairings of S+ and S- showed that the stimulus pairs were not equally discriminable. It appears that as the S+/S- pairs become increasingly difficult to discriminate, their feedback value decreased and this decrease is positively correlated with a decrease in P300 amplitude. This interpretation received support from Exp. 2 in which the stimulus conditions were the same as in Exp. 1, but the subject's task was to count the "s+ stimuli. Here, when subject had no option but to process each individual stimulus, the P300 amplitude remained constant despite variations in S- intensity. Thus, it appears that task relevance must be defined in terms of the subject's behavior rather than by the experimenter's instructions to the subject.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1977

Augmenting mental chronometry: the P300 as a measure of stimulus evaluation time.

A technique for measuring the latency of the P300 component of event-related brain potentials on individual trials is described. Choice reaction times and the latency of the P300 were compared under speed-maximizing and under accuracy-mazimising instructions. The choice stimuli required different levels of semantic categorization. The data support the proposition that the latency of P300 corresponds to stimulus evaluation time and is independent of response selection.

Brain↗
PubMed1977

On the influence of task relevance and stimulus probability on event-related-potential components.

Fifteen subjects were presented with series of tones. Any one tone was either loud or soft, and in any one series the probability of one tone intensity was either 0.9 or 0.1. Subjects were instructed to count the frequent tones or to count the rare tones. The stimuli were also presented while the subjects were solving a word-puzzle. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 9 scalp locations (F3, C3, P3, FZ, CZ, PZ, F4, C4, P4) referred to linked mastoids. ERP components were measured with a Principal Components analysis and the relations between these measures and the independent variables were evaluated with the ANOVA procedure. This paradigm allowed an evaluation of the effect of stimulus probability, stimulus relevance, and task relevance on the waveform of the ERPs. We conclude that the P350 component is enhanced whenever the eliciting stimulus is both rare and in some sense relevant to the subject's task and the degree of enhancement is greatest when the rare--relevant tone is loud. A "slow wave" component which follows P350 is related to the same variables but has a scalp distribution quite different from that of P350. The slow wave shows a progressive shift in polarity from negative to positive from the frontal to the parietal sites, while the P350 is of nearly equal amplitude (and positive) at the central and parietal sites and has a smaller (positive) and amplitude at FZ. A third prominent component, negative in polarity, peaking at about 210 msec, is most pronounced following rare stimuli, whether or not they were task relevant. The amplitude of N210 tended to be largest at the frontal electrode. This study then demonstrates that when suitable measurement techniques are used, multiple endogenous ERP components can be observed, each related to distinct aspects of cognitive behavior.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1977

Bisensory stimulation: inferring decision-related processes from P300 component.

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the P300 component of the human evoked response as an index of bisensory information processing. On different blocks of trials, subjects were presented with auditory stimuli alone, visual stimuli alone, or with audiovisual compounds. In each series there were two possible stimuli, one of which was presented less frequently than the other; the subjects' task was to count the infrequent stimuli. In the first two experiments the information in the two modalities was redundant, whereas in the third the modalities provided nonredundant information. With redundant information, the P300 latency indicated bisensory facilitation when the unimodal P300 latencies were similar; when the unimodal latencies were dissimilar, the bisensory P300 occurred at the latency of the earlier unimodal P300. Reaction times paralleled P300 latency. When the information in the two modalities was nonredundant, both P300 amplitude and reaction-time data indicated interference between the two modalities, regardless of which modality was task relevant. P300 latency and reaction time did not covary in this situation. These data suggest that P300 latency and amplitude do reflect bisensory interactions and that the P300 promises to be a valuable tool for assessing brain processes during complex decision making.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1976

The effect of stimulus sequence on the waveform of the cortical event-related potential.

The waveform of the cortical event-related potential is extremely sensitive to variations in the sequence of stimuli preceding the eliciting event. The waveform changes were manifested primarily in the amplitudes of the negative component of the potential that peaked at 200 milliseconds, the positive component that peaked at 300 milliseconds, and the slow-wave components. A quantitative model was developed relating the waveform changes to changes in event expectancy. Expectancy is assumed to depend on a decaying memory for events within the prior sequence, the specific structure of the sequence, and the global probability of event occurrence. For stimuli relevant to the task, the less expected the stimulus the larger the amplitudes of late components of the event-related potentials.

Auditory Perception↗
PubMed1976

Beyond averaging: the use of discriminant functions to recognize event related potentials elicited by single auditory stimuli.

A test of the stepwise discriminant analysis (SWDA) procedure for assessing single-trial event related potentials (ERPs) is presented. Discriminant functions (DFs) were built from a data base composed of single-trial ERPs from sixteen subjects who were presented trains of loud and soft tones. Loud tones occurred randomly on 10% of the trials. Subjects either counted the rare--loud stimuli or solved a hidden-word puzzle. Various DFs at three electrode sites (Fz, Cz and Pz) were obtained to assess the feasibility of performing pairwise discriminations between the various combinations of events which are defined by this procedure. For the pair of events which yielded the most striking differences between their average ERP waveforms it was possible to classify correctly, an average of 84% of the events using information from one electrode site, and 89% of the events if information from multiple electrode sites was used. A "subject-independent" DF was developed from these data and applied to data obtained from seven new subjects. This subject-independent function proved to be sufficiently generalized to classify correctly 81% of the trials. The nature of classification errors by this procedure is discussed.

Auditory Cortex↗
PubMed1975

On the independence of the CNV and the P300 components of the human averaged evoked potential.

We report an experiment designed to assess the interactions between the CNV and the P300 components of human event-related potential. Eight subjects were each presented with series of experimental trials on all of which either a 1200 c/sec or an 800 c/sec tone was presented. There were three independent variables: (a) The presence or absence of a warning flash 1000 msec prior to the tone. (b) The task assigned to the subject--that is subjects were either to make a discriminative response to the tone or, on half the series, to predict prior to the tiral which of the two tones would be presented. (c) The predictability of the tone frequency. On half the series high and low tones alternated from trial to trial. On the other series, tones were chosen randomly on each trial. The data show that the amplitude of the P300 component is not affected by the presence or absence of a warning stimulus. Furthermore, the distributions of P300 and the CNV over the scalp are quite different. These conclusions are supported by a principal component and a discriminant analysis of the data. We conclude that the CNV and the P300 reflect the activity of functionally distinct cortical mechanisms.

Analysis of Variance↗