Townsend R E, Johnson L C
Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1979 Sep;47(3):272-9. doi: 10.1016/0013-4694(79)90279-7.
Two experiments examined the relation of prestimulus electroencephalographic (EEG) frequency to choice RT. Based on previous studies, initial analysis was concerned with 3--7 c/sec activity. In well-rested subjects (Exp. 1), trial-by-trial analyses indicated large variations in prestimulus EEG activity which were unrelated to RT and large variations in RT which were unrelated to prestimulus EEG. In Exp. 2, subjects were deprived of sleep for 1 night and within-subject comparisons made between RT and EEG activity immediately preceding the 10 shortest and 10 longest RT trials, and 10 trials where the subject failed to respond. Significant univariate correlations were found, largely between RT and the frequencies in the 15--20 c/sec range of EEG activity and not in the 3--7 c/sec activity. A multiple regression analysis using up to 5 EEG frequencies indicated significant correlations of prestimulus EEG activity with RT; but with considerable subject-to-subject variability in the EEG frequencies contributing to the multiple R. The overall results suggest that there can be considerable variation in EEG activity which is unrelated to performance, except when the EEG fluctuations are secondary to changes in arousal which, in turn, effect performance.
两项实验研究了刺激前脑电图（EEG）频率与选择反应时（RT）之间的关系。基于先前的研究，初始分析关注的是3 - 7赫兹的活动。在休息良好的受试者中（实验1），逐次试验分析表明，刺激前EEG活动存在与反应时无关的大幅变化，以及反应时存在与刺激前EEG无关的大幅变化。在实验2中，受试者被剥夺一晚睡眠，并在反应时最短的10次试验、反应时最长的10次试验以及受试者未做出反应的10次试验之前，对反应时与EEG活动进行受试者内比较。发现了显著的单变量相关性，主要存在于反应时与EEG活动15 - 20赫兹范围内的频率之间，而非3 - 7赫兹的活动范围内。使用多达5个EEG频率进行的多元回归分析表明，刺激前EEG活动与反应时存在显著相关性；但在对多元相关系数有贡献的EEG频率上，受试者之间存在相当大的变异性。总体结果表明，EEG活动可能存在与表现无关的相当大的变化，除非EEG波动继发于唤醒水平的变化，而唤醒水平的变化又会影响表现。
