Abramov Dimitri M, Pontes Monique, Pontes Adailton T, Mourao-Junior Carlos A, Vieira Juliana, Quero Cunha Carla, Tamborino Tiago, Galhanone Paulo R, deAzevedo Leonardo C, Lazarev Vladimir V
Laboratory of Neurobiology and Clinical Neurophysiology, National Institute of Women, Children and Adolescents Health Fernandes Figueira, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Av. Ruy Barbosa, 716, Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22250-020, Brazil.
Department of Physiology, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Campus UFJF - ICB, Juiz de Fora, MG 36036-900, Brazil.
Neurosci Lett. 2017 Apr 24;647:91-96. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2017.03.031. Epub 2017 Mar 20.
In ERP studies of cognitive processes during attentional tasks, the cue signals containing information about the target can increase the amplitude of the parietal cue P3 in relation to the 'neutral' temporal cue, and reduce the subsequent target P3 when this information is valid, i.e. corresponds to the target's attributes. The present study compared the cue-to-target P3 ratios in neutral and visuospatial cueing, in order to estimate the contribution of valid visuospatial information from the cue to target stages of the task performance, in terms of cognitive load. The P3 characteristics were also correlated with the results of individuals' performance of the visuospatial tasks, in order to estimate the relationship of the observed ERP with spatial reasoning. In 20 typically developing boys, aged 10-13 years (11.3±0.86), the intelligence quotient (I.Q.) was estimated by the Block Design and Vocabulary subtests from the WISC-III. The subjects performed the Attentional Network Test (ANT) accompanied by EEG recording. The cued two-choice task had three equiprobable cue conditions: No cue, with no information about the target; Neutral (temporal) cue, with an asterisk in the center of the visual field, predicting the target onset; and Spatial cues, with an asterisk in the upper or lower hemifield, predicting the onset and corresponding location of the target. The ERPs were estimated for the mid-frontal (Fz) and mid-parietal (Pz) scalp derivations. In the Pz, the Neutral cue P3 had a lower amplitude than the Spatial cue P3; whereas for the target ERPs, the P3 of the Neutral cue condition was larger than that of the Spatial cue condition. However, the sums of the magnitudes of the cue and target P3 were equal in the spatial and neutral cueing, probably indicating that in both cases the equivalent information processing load is included in either the cue or the target reaction, respectively. Meantime, in the Fz, the analog ERP components for both the cue and target stimuli did not depend on the cue condition. The results show that, in the parietal site, the spatial cue P3 reflects the processing of visuospatial information regarding the target position. This contributes to the subsequent "decision-making", thus reducing the information processing load on the target response, which is probably reflected in the lower P3. This finding is consistent with the positive correlation of parietal cue P3 with the individual's ability to perform spatial tasks as scored by the Block Design subtest.
在注意力任务期间对认知过程进行的事件相关电位（ERP）研究中，包含目标信息的提示信号相对于“中性”时间提示可增加顶叶提示P3的波幅，并且当该信息有效时，即与目标属性相符时，会降低随后目标P3的波幅。本研究比较了中性提示和视觉空间提示中提示到目标的P3比率，以便从认知负荷的角度估计有效视觉空间信息从提示到任务执行目标阶段的贡献。P3特征还与个体视觉空间任务的表现结果相关，以便估计观察到的ERP与空间推理的关系。在20名年龄在10至13岁（11.3±0.86）的发育正常的男孩中，通过韦氏儿童智力量表第三版（WISC-III）的积木图案和词汇分测验来估计智商（I.Q.）。受试者在脑电图记录的同时进行注意力网络测试（ANT）。提示性二选一任务有三种等概率的提示条件：无提示，即没有关于目标的信息；中性（时间）提示，视野中心有一个星号，预测目标出现；空间提示，上半视野或下半视野有一个星号，预测目标的出现和相应位置。对额中部（Fz）和顶中部（Pz）头皮导联记录的ERP进行评估。在Pz处，中性提示P3的波幅低于空间提示P3；而对于目标ERP，中性提示条件下的P3大于空间提示条件下的P3。然而，空间提示和中性提示中提示和目标P3波幅的总和相等，这可能表明在两种情况下，等效的信息处理负荷分别包含在提示或目标反应中。同时，在Fz处，提示和目标刺激的类似ERP成分不依赖于提示条件。结果表明，在顶叶部位，空间提示P3反映了关于目标位置的视觉空间信息的处理。这有助于随后的“决策”，从而减少目标反应上的信息处理负荷，这可能反映在较低的P3波幅上。这一发现与顶叶提示P3与个体在积木图案分测验中所评分的执行空间任务能力的正相关一致。
