Influence of cognitive control and mismatch on the N2 component of the ERP: A review

Abstract

Recent years have seen an explosion of research on the N2 component of the event-related potential, a negative wave peaking between 200 and 350 ms after stimulus onset. This research has focused on the influence of ''cognitive control,'' a concept that covers strategic monitoring and control of motor responses. However, rich research traditions focus on attention and novelty or mismatch as determinants of N2 amplitude. We focus on paradigms that elicit N2 components with an anterior scalp distribution, namely, cognitive control, novelty, and sequential matching, and argue that the anterior N2 should be divided into separate control-and mismatch-related subcomponents. We also argue that the oddball N2 belongs in the family of attention-related N2 components that, in the visual modality, have a posterior scalp distribution. We focus on the visual modality for which components with frontocentral and more posterior scalp distributions can be readily distinguished.Descriptors: N2, N200, Cognitive control, Error-related negativity, Feedback-related negativity, NoveltyThe P300 may be the most studied component of the event-related potential (ERP). Its amplitude is sensitive to stimulus probability and task relevance of the eliciting stimulus, and its latency reflects stimulus evaluation time (Johnson & Donchin, 1980, Chapter 12;Verleger, 1997). The P300 is commonly divided into two subcomponents with different scalp distributions and different functional correlates: a frontally maximal P3a that reflects the orienting of attention to unexpected or significant events in the environment and a parietally maximal P3b that indexes the updating of working memory (Courchesne, Hillyard, & Galambos, 1975;Debener, Makeig, Delorme, & Engel, 2005;Dien, Spencer, & Donchin, 2004;Donchin, 1981;Friedman, Cycowicz, & Gaeta, 2001;Goldstein, Spencer, & Donchin, 2002;Na¨a¨ta¨nen & Gaillard, 1983;Polich & Comerchero, 2003;Spencer, Dien, & Donchin, 1999, 2001Squires, N. K., Squires, & Hillyard, 1975).Commonly observed in combination with the P3a and P3b is the smaller, earlier N2. The label ''N2'' refers to the second negative peak in the averaged ERP waveform and is labeled as such because it follows a prominent frontocentral negative peak at around 100 ms in the auditory modality or a prominent temporooccipital negative peak at around 180 ms in the visual modality. So linked were the N2 and P3 in early research that they were often referred to as the ''N2-P3 complex,'' and some studies measured them in combination for purposes of correlation with stimulus probability (Squires, K. C., Petuchowsky, Wickens, & Donchin, 1977;Squires, K. C., Wickens, Squires, & Donchin, 1976).Recent years have seen a renewed interest in N2 components of the ERP as functionally distinct from P3 components and useful for understanding the nature and sequence of cognitive processes. For instance, a large literature has emerged focusing on the role of anterior N2s in cognitive control. Cognitive control is partly defined as the monitoring or regulation of ...

Spatio‐temporal distribution of brain activity associated with audio‐visually congruent and incongruent speech and the McGurk Effect

“…This association coupled with the waning right hemisphere activity in secondary visual cortex (BA19) is compatible with a transition from attention to audio‐visual congruence/incongruence and its processing, to identifying the audio‐visual stimulus toward response selection. This time period, which parallels the surface‐recorded component N200, is compatible with the transition from stimulus evaluation to response selection in the performance of tasks (Folstein and van Petten 2008). …”

Event-rate effects in the flanker task: ERPs and task performance in children with and without AD/HD

“…Alternatively, this effect can be attributed to contamination by the "novelty N2", a component which is sensitive to perceptually deviant and anomalous stimuli. In the flanker task the novelty N2 is typically enhanced to neutral stimuli (Folstein and Van Petten, 2008). However, in the present study the participants may have perceived 5-item arrays (i.e., neutral, congruent and incongruent stimuli) as prevailing, and 1-item stimuli (i.e., target-alone stimuli) as deviant.…”

“…A parietally maximal P3 component has been identified in a variety of paradigms whose latency has been associated with the time taken to evaluate a stimulus (Polich and Kok, 1995) and amplitude related to the amount of information transferred to working memory (Kok, 2001;Polich and Kok, 1995;Wiersema et al, 2006a). In the flanker task this component is maximal centro-parietally, and is enhanced and delayed to incongruent stimuli compared to other stimulus types in both adults (Folstein and Van Petten, 2008;Ridderinkhof and van der Molen, 1995) and children Rueda et al, 2004).…”

“…In addition to task performance indices such as reaction time (RT) and error-rates, the present study will also employ event-related potentials (ERPs), with a focus on the N2 and P3 ERP components. The N2, or "control N2", is a fronto/fronto-central negativity occurring between 200 and 400 ms after stimulus presentation in children (Folstein and Van Petten, 2008;Johnstone et al, 2010). In the flanker task the N2 is enhanced to incongruent stimuli compared to other stimuli (Heil et al, 2000;Johnstone et al, 2009;Johnstone et al, 2010;Kopp et al, 1996;Yeung et al, 2004).…”

Generalized lapse of responding in trait impulsivity indicated by ERPs: The role of energetic factors in inhibitory control

“…A frequent finding of ERP studies using the flanker task is that the N2 can be divided into two distinct subcomponents (Gehring et al, 1992;Kopp et al, 1996) reflecting control-related and mismatch-related functions (Folstein and Van Petten, 2008). However, some previous flanker studies failed to find two N2s (e.g., Johnstone et al, 2009;Johnstone and Galletta, 2013), and the classification scheme of the apparent subcomponents (N2a, N2b, N2c) is not always consequent (Folstein and Van Petten, 2008). The N2b is considered to indicate the attentional detection of deviations from the prevailing visual context (Kopp et al, 1996).…”