The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of informational and motivational level of feedback stimuli on the stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN). In the time estimation task, in which a visual stimulus was presented 3 s after a voluntary movement, (a) the information level (high information and low information) and (b) the motivation level (reward and no-reward) for feedback stimuli were manipulated. Under the high-information condition, subjects received feedback information about (1) correctness (correct or incorrect), (2) direction of error (under- or overestimate), and (3) degree of accuracy (accurate or less accurate) of their time estimation. In the low-information condition, however, they received information about the correctness only. In the reward condition, they received a monetary reward for accurate time estimations but received nothing in the no-reward condition. The results demonstrated a significant interaction of information by motivation level, showing that the SPN amplitude under the reward/high-information was larger than that in the no-reward/high-information condition. The results are discussed in terms of emotional anticipation, taking into consideration the result of self-report that subjects felt to be more motivated when they received precise information.

Stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) was recorded to investigate the effect of positive and negative emotion on the SPN preceding feedback stimuli. In the time-estimation task in which an acoustic stimulus was presented 3 s after a voluntary movement, (1) the negative valence (aversive band noise and pure tone) and (2) the positive valence (reward and no-reward) of feedback stimuli were manipulated. During noise conditions, participants received the band noise as a feedback stimulus except when their time estimations were accurate. They received a monetary reward for accurate time estimations under the reward conditions. The prefeedback SPN was larger under reward than no-reward conditions. In addition, the prefeedback SPN in the noise condition was larger compared with the pure tone condition. Our results appear to suggest that emotional anticipation is important in eliciting the prefeedback SPN.

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of reward and stimulus modality of feedback stimuli on the stimulus-preceding negativity. A time estimation task was performed, and (a) the motivational level (reward and no-reward) and (b) the stimulus modality (auditory and visual) of feedback stimuli were manipulated. The results demonstrated that the stimulus-preceding negativity was larger in the reward than in the no-reward condition, especially at the right frontal and the left occipito-temporal areas. Moreover, the stimulus-preceding negativity prior to visual feedback stimuli was larger over the occipital areas than in the auditory condition. In contrast, at the prefrontal areas, the amplitude prior to auditory feedback stimuli was larger than in the visual condition. Our results revealed that the prefeedback stimulus-preceding negativity was independently influenced by stimulus modality and motivation.

The psychological factors of a premature response on simple reaction-time tasks were examined by comparing the difference between control responses (33 samples) and premature responses (33 samples) using the index of Contingent Negative Variation (CNV). The first (warning) stimulus was a click, the second (imperative) stimulus was a colored circular figure presented on a CRT, and the interstimulus interval was set at 3 sec. 72 trials were administered to the 24 subjects, then 33 artifact-free CNV data in a premature response were shown. Analyses indicated that CNV amplitudes in the premature response were lower than those in the control response at frontal position. Especially in the premature response, CNV waveforms stayed around baseline toward S2 at F3 and F4. In the analyses of variance, every CNV component (early, late, and whole components) at F4 or FZ was significantly lower for the premature response. These results suggested that the optimal prediction, arousal, and attention do not seem to be maintained in a premature response.

The influence of set on a simple reaction time task was examined by comparing the differences of psychological factors between a group of subjects who expected and experienced a fixed foreperiod Control condition: 12 subjects) and another group of subjects who were instructed to expect variable foreperiods but experienced the same fixed foreperiod (Instruction condition: 11 subjects), using the index of contingent negative variation (CNV). The foreperiod of simple reaction time task in each condition was fixed at 3 sec. Subjects were required to respond to 2 blocks of 24 trials, and each instruction was presented between blocks. On the second block CNV amplitudes were higher in the instruction condition as was every CNV component (early late, and whole component). The set created by anticipating variable foreperiods seems to increase cerebral activity, arousal, and attention during simple reaction time tasks.