Erb Christopher D, Cavanagh James F
School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 23 Symonds Street, Building 302, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Logan Hall, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, United States of America.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2019 Apr;195:1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.02.004. Epub 2019 Mar 1.
Recent research demonstrates that two components of reaching behavior - initiation time (the time elapsed from stimulus presentation to movement initiation) and reach curvature (the degree to which a reach movement deviates from a direct path to the selected response) - exhibit distinct cross-trial dynamics in cognitive control tasks, indicating that these components of behavior reflect two dissociable processes underlying cognitive control: a threshold adjustment process involving the inhibition of motor output and a controlled selection process involving the recruitment of top-down resources to support goal-relevant behavior. The current study investigates the extent to which the cross-trial dynamics previously observed in reaching behavior in the Eriksen flanker task are reflected in event-related potentials during standard button-press responses. Candidate EEG measures of the threshold adjustment process (N2 and Pre-LRP amplitudes) failed to reveal the cross-trial dynamics previously observed in initiation times. Slow wave amplitudes exhibited a close correspondence to the cross-trial dynamics observed in reach curvatures, indicating that the measure is sensitive to some functions of the controlled selection process. Further, LRP slopes presented a close correspondence to the cross-trial dynamics observed in response times, indicating that this measure reflects the combined output of the threshold adjustment process and controlled selection process. The implications of these findings for future research examining the links among behavioral and neural dynamics are discussed.
最近的研究表明，伸手行为的两个组成部分——启动时间（从刺激呈现到动作启动所经过的时间）和伸手曲率（伸手动作偏离直接指向所选反应路径的程度）——在认知控制任务中表现出不同的跨试验动态，这表明这些行为组成部分反映了认知控制背后的两个可分离的过程：一个涉及抑制运动输出的阈值调整过程和一个涉及调用自上而下资源以支持与目标相关行为的受控选择过程。本研究调查了在埃里克森侧翼任务中先前在伸手行为中观察到的跨试验动态在标准按键反应期间的事件相关电位中得到反映的程度。阈值调整过程的候选脑电图测量指标（N2和LRP前振幅）未能揭示先前在启动时间中观察到的跨试验动态。慢波振幅与在伸手曲率中观察到的跨试验动态密切对应，表明该测量指标对受控选择过程的某些功能敏感。此外，LRP斜率与在反应时间中观察到的跨试验动态密切对应，表明该测量指标反映了阈值调整过程和受控选择过程的综合输出。讨论了这些发现对未来研究行为和神经动态之间联系的意义。
