This article reviews literature on the characteristics and possible interpretations of the event-related potential (ERP) peaks commonly identified in research. The description of each peak includes typical latencies, cortical distributions, and possible brain sources of observed activity as well as the evoking paradigms and underlying psychological processes. The review is intended to serve as a tutorial for general readers interested in neuropsychological research and as a reference source for researchers using ERP techniques.

One of the most prominent theories for why children struggle to learn verbs is that verb learning requires the abstraction of relations between an object and its action (Gentner, 2003). Two hypotheses suggest how children extract relations to extend a novel verb: (1) seeing many different exemplars allows children to detect the invariant relation between actions in different contexts (Gentner, 2003), and (2) repetition of fewer exemplars allows children to move beyond the entities involved to extract the relation (Kersten & Smith, 2002). We tested 2 1/2- and 3-year-olds' ability to extend a novel verb after viewing the repetition of one novel actor compared to four different actors performing a novel action. Both ages were better at learning and extending a novel verb to a novel actor when shown only one actor rather than four different actors. These results indicate that during initial verb learning less information is more effective.

BackgroundHyperphosphorylation of microtubule-associated protein tau is a distinct feature of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) that are the hallmark of neurodegenerative tauopathies. O-GlcNAcylation is a lesser known post-translational modification of tau that involves the addition of N-acetylglucosamine onto serine and threonine residues. Inhibition of O-GlcNAcase (OGA), the enzyme responsible for the removal of O-GlcNAc modification, has been shown to reduce tau pathology in several transgenic models. Clarifying the underlying mechanism by which OGA inhibition leads to the reduction of pathological tau and identifying translatable measures to guide human dosing and efficacy determination would significantly facilitate the clinical development of OGA inhibitors for the treatment of tauopathies.MethodsGenetic and pharmacological approaches are used to evaluate the pharmacodynamic response of OGA inhibition. A panel of quantitative biochemical assays is established to assess the effect of OGA inhibition on pathological tau reduction. A “click” chemistry labeling method is developed for the detection of O-GlcNAcylated tau.ResultsSubstantial (>80%) OGA inhibition is required to observe a measurable increase in O-GlcNAcylated proteins in the brain. Sustained and substantial OGA inhibition via chronic treatment with Thiamet G leads to a significant reduction of aggregated tau and several phosphorylated tau species in the insoluble fraction of rTg4510 mouse brain and total tau in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). O-GlcNAcylated tau is elevated by Thiamet G treatment and is found primarily in the soluble 55 kD tau species, but not in the insoluble 64 kD tau species thought as the pathological entity.ConclusionThe present study demonstrates that chronic inhibition of OGA reduces pathological tau in the brain and total tau in the CSF of rTg4510 mice, most likely by directly increasing O-GlcNAcylation of tau and thereby maintaining tau in the soluble, non-toxic form by reducing tau aggregation and the accompanying panoply of deleterious post-translational modifications. These results clarify some conflicting observations regarding the effects and mechanism of OGA inhibition on tau pathology, provide pharmacodynamic tools to guide human dosing and identify CSF total tau as a potential translational biomarker. Therefore, this study provides additional support to develop OGA inhibitors as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative tauopathies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13024-017-0181-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The world’s languages draw on a common set of event components for their verb systems. Yet, these components are differentially distributed across languages. At what age do children begin to use language specific patterns to narrow possible verb meanings? English, Japanese, and Spanish-speaking adults, toddlers, and preschoolers were shown videos of an animated star performing a novel manner along a novel path paired with a language appropriate nonsense verb. They were then asked to extend that verb to either the same manner or the same path as in training. Across languages, toddlers (2- and 2 ½-year-olds) revealed a significant preference for interpreting the verb as a path verb. In preschool (3- and 5-year-olds) and adulthood, participants displayed language specific patterns of verb construal. These findings illuminate the way in which verb construal comes to reflect properties of the input language.

In daily activities, humans must attend and respond to a range of important items and inhibit and not respond to unimportant distractions. Our current understanding of these processes is largely based on perceptually simple stimuli. This study investigates the interaction of conceptual-semantic categorization and inhibitory processing using Event Related Potentials (ERPs). Participants completed three Go-NoGo tasks that increased systematically in the degree of conceptual-semantic information necessary to respond correctly (from single items to categories of objects and animals). Findings indicate that the N2 response reflects inhibitory processing but does not change significantly with task difficulty. The P3 NoGo amplitude, on the other hand, is attenuated by task difficulty. Further, the latency of the peak of the P3 NoGo response elicited by the most difficult task is significantly later than are the peaks detected during performance of the other two tasks. Thus, the level of complexity of conceptual-semantic representations influences inhibitory processing in a systematic way. This inhibition paradigm may be a key for investigating inhibitory dysfunction in patient populations. KeywordsEvent Related Potentials; inhibition; N2-P3; Go-NoGo; object-animal categorization; visual categorization; conceptual difficulty Everyday functioning requires the ability to successfully inhibit irrelevant stimuli, thoughts, and behaviors (Logan & Cowan, 1984;Posner & DiGirolamo, 1998). To date, research on Corresponding Author: Mandy J. Maguire, Ph.D., Callier Center for Communication Disorders, University of Texas at Dallas, 1966 Inwood Rd., Dallas, TX 75235, mandy.maguire@utdallas.edu, Phone: (214) Fax: (214)905-3006. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptBrain Cogn. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 December 1. Published in final edited form as:Brain Cogn. 2009 December ; 71(3): 196-203. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2009.018. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript response inhibition has started to localize some of the basic neural processes associated with this behavior (Folstein & van Petten, 2008or Mostofsky & Simmonds, 2008 for review). However, despite the real world implications of successful and unsuccessful inhibition, as reported in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Barkley, 1997; Luu & Tucker, 2002) and healthy aging (Hasher & Quig, 1997), little work has focused on how response inhibition changes as tasks become conceptually more abstract: for example, knowing to stop the car...