Sex differences in equiprobable auditory Go/NoGo task: effects on N2 and P3

Abstract

The Go/NoGo variants of the auditory event-related potentials were shown promising for clinical researches; however, prior to the wider application, it is important to evaluate potential modulating factors. We aimed to evaluate gender effect on the behavioral and electrophysiological responses in an auditory equiprobable Go/NoGo task. The auditory equal probability Go/NoGo paradigm with two types of stimuli was presented to 79 healthy subjects (40 females and 39 males, age 18-30 years) during EEG recording. Behavioral performance, latency and amplitude of N2 and P3 waves in the Go and the NoGo conditions were evaluated and compared between genders. The response times did not differ between genders; however, females were less accurate on the task. They also exhibited slower N2s and P3s in both Go and NoGo conditions and higher P3 amplitudes. Our results suggest that females require longer times for monitoring of response conflict (N2s) and outcome inhibition (NoGo-P3) and more neural resources and longer processing times for motor response execution (Go-P3). The research provides evidence that gender factor is important in the Go/NoGo studies employing auditory equiprobable paradigm.

Sex differences in executive control: A systematic review of functional neuroimaging studies

“…Six EEG studies examined sex differences in regional brain activity in the domain of response inhibition. Three of these studies used a Go/ No‐Go task (Knezevic, 2018; Melynyte et al., 2017; Ramos‐Loyo et al., 2016). In the remaining studies, such sex‐dependent activity was assessed in two studies using the Flanker Task (Clayson et al., 2011; Larson et al, 2011), and one study using the Continuous Performance Task (Omura & Kusumoto, 2015).…”

Gender Differences in Auditory P300 Event-Related Potential in Indian Population

“…[11] The study by Melynyte et al, which found longer latencies in females, included only young female subjects (age range: 18-29 years), which is comparable to our sample. [12] More studies are needed in this specific age group with more sample size to test the consistency of this finding. Gender differences in P300 have been attributed to variations in processing strategies, anatomical differences such as larger corpus callosum in females, different neuronal maturity rates, and hemispheric asymmetry between males and females.…”

Auditory stimulus‐ and response‐locked ERP components and behavior

“…Hypothetically, the absence of a stimulus‐locked N2c in this study could suggest that the typical Go N2c is a response‐related component, as anticipated. The small diffuse topography of the auditory N2c and its usual latency ~250 ms poststimulus (e.g., Fogarty et al, ; Melynyte, Ruksenas, & Griskova‐Bulanova, ) could suggest that it reflects a smearing of RN2 in stimulus‐locked data, which would explain why larger RTV has been linked to smaller stimulus‐locked N2c amplitudes (Fogarty, Barry, De Blasio, & Steiner, ). If this is the case, N2c's role in target stimulus processing would be questionable (cf.…”