Relationship of P3b single-trial latencies and response times in one, two, and three-stimulus oddball tasks

Abstract

The P300 is one of the most widely studied components of the human event-related potential. According to a longstanding view, the P300, and particularly its posterior subcomponent (i.e., the P3b), is driven by stimulus categorization. Whether the P3b relates to tactical processes involved in immediate responding or strategic processes that affect future behavior remains controversial, however. It is difficult to determine whether variability in P3b latencies relates to variability in response times because of limitations in the methods currently available to quantify the latency of the P3b during single trials. In this paper, we report results from the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT), the Hitchcock Radar Task, and a 3-Stimulus Oddball Task. These represent variants of the one-, two-, and three-stimulus oddball paradigms commonly used to study the P3b. The PVT requires simple detection, whereas the Hitchcock Radar Task and the 3-Stimulus Task require detection and categorization. We apply a novel technique that combines hidden semi-Markov models and multi-voxel pattern analysis (HSMM-MVPA) to data from the three experiments. HSMM-MVPA revealed a processing stage in each task corresponding to the P3b. Trial-by-trial variability in the latency of the processing stage correlated with response times in the Hitchcock Radar Task and the 3-Stimulus Task, but not the PVT. These results indicate that the P3b reflects a stimulus categorization process, and that its latency is strongly associated with response times when the stimulus must be categorized before responding. In addition to those theoretical insights, the ability to detect the onset of the P3b and other components on a single-trial basis using HSMM-MVPA opens the door for new uses of mental chronometry in cognitive neuroscience.

Effects of relevance and response frequency on P3b amplitudes: Review of findings and comparison of hypotheses about the process reflected by P3b

“…Verleger et al () suggested that frequent responses, primed through the preceding trials, may be performed without resorting to the process reflected by P3b and that the process is needed for implementing rare responses only. This suggestion was confirmed by Walsh, Gunzelmann, and Anderson (). But this issue has certainly not been settled so far.…”

P300 and positive slow waves reveal the plausibility in inductive reasoning

“…One interpretation for our results is that the P300 amplitude is related to task difficulty (Dong, Reder, Yao, Liu, & Chen, 2015;A. Miller, Rosenfeld, Soskins, & Jhee, 2016;Walsh, Gunzelmann, & Anderson, 2017). Specifically, previous studies have shown that the P300 amplitude is smaller for more difficult tasks than for easier tasks (Nikki, Adrian, & Diane, 2011;Polich, 2007).…”

“…In addition, the subordinate‐superordinate conditions elicited smaller P300 than did both the subordinate‐basic and the basic‐superordinate conditions. One interpretation for our results is that the P300 amplitude is related to task difficulty (Dong, Reder, Yao, Liu, & Chen, ; A. Miller, Rosenfeld, Soskins, & Jhee, ; Walsh, Gunzelmann, & Anderson, ). Specifically, previous studies have shown that the P300 amplitude is smaller for more difficult tasks than for easier tasks (Nikki, Adrian, & Diane, ; Polich, ).…”

The Impact of Inserting an Additional Mental Process

“…Other methods exist for dealing with trial-by-trial variability in the latency of ERP components (Ouyang et al 2015;Woody 1967;Cecotti and Ries 2017;Dmochowski and Norcia 2015;Mestre et al 2014). The primary advantages of HSMM-MVPA as compared to these other methods are its capability (i) to capture ERP-like components that are not locked to observable events and (ii) to estimate the number of ERP-like components in the task (for a review and comparison of methods, see Walsh et al 2017).…”

“…recovering the durations of the underlying processing stages (e.g., recollection, decision) and showed predictable changes with experimental factors (Anderson et al 2016;Walsh et al 2017;Zhang et al 2017Zhang et al , 2018. The HSMM-MVPA method identifies brief, distinctive profiles of scalp activity (i.e., bumps) at variable latencies in each trial (Anderson et al 2016).…”