Kok A
Psychology Department, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Psychophysiology. 2001 May;38(3):557-77. doi: 10.1017/s0048577201990559.
The present review focuses on the utility of the amplitude of P3 of as a measure of processing capacity and mental workload. The paper starts with a brief outline of the conceptual framework underlying the relationship between P3 amplitude and task demands, and the cognitive task manipulations that determine demands on capacity. P3 amplitude results are then discussed on the basis of an extensive review of the relevant literature. It is concluded that although it has often been assumed that P3 amplitude depends on the capacity for processing task relevant stimuli, the utility of P3 amplitude as a sensitive and diagnostic measure of processing capacity remains limited. The major factor that prompts this conclusion is that the two principal task variables that have been used to manipulate capacity allocation, namely task difficulty and task emphasis, have opposite effects on the amplitude of P3. I suggest that this is because, in many tasks, an increase in difficulty transforms the structure or actual content of the flow of information in the processing systems, thereby interfering with the very processes that underlie P3 generation. Finally, in an attempt to theoretically integrate the results of the reviewed studies, it is proposed that P3 amplitude reflects activation of elements in a event-categorization network that is controlled by the joint operation of attention and working memory.
本综述聚焦于P3波幅作为处理能力和心理负荷度量指标的效用。本文开篇简要概述了P3波幅与任务需求之间关系的概念框架，以及决定能力需求的认知任务操作。然后，在广泛回顾相关文献的基础上讨论了P3波幅的研究结果。得出的结论是，尽管人们常常认为P3波幅取决于处理与任务相关刺激的能力，但P3波幅作为处理能力的敏感且诊断性度量指标的效用仍然有限。促使得出这一结论的主要因素是，用于操纵能力分配的两个主要任务变量，即任务难度和任务重点，对P3波幅有相反的影响。我认为这是因为，在许多任务中，难度的增加会改变处理系统中信息流的结构或实际内容，从而干扰P3产生所基于的过程。最后，为了从理论上整合所综述研究的结果，有人提出P3波幅反映了由注意力和工作记忆的联合操作控制的事件分类网络中元素的激活。
