The N-40: an electrophysiological marker of decision-making
1 : Laboratoire de psychologie cognitive
(LPC)
-
Website
CNRS : UMR6146, Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I
Pôle 3 C, Case D 3 place Victor Hugo 13331 Marseille Cedex 3 -
France
2 : Laboratoire de neurobiologie de la cognition
(LNC)
-
Website
* : Corresponding author
CNRS : UMR6155, Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I
Pole 3 C Case C 3 Place Victor Hugo 13331 Marseille Cedex 3 -
France
After Laplacian transformation, a fronto-central phasic negative wave develops, before the build-up of the motor command, over the medial frontal cortex (including supplementary motor areas). It peaks about 40 ms before electromyographical onset and was then called “N-40”. The N-40 is present when a response choice has to be performed and absent when no choice is required. Therefore, the N-40 has been assumed to be related to decisional processes. It is classically considered that stimulus-response (S-R) mapping affects decisional processes: the decision being more complex for incongruent than for congruent mapping. In the present study, we examined the sensitivity of the N-40 to the demands put on the decisional processes Therefore, subjects performed in a choice RT task where S-R mapping (congruent vs. incongruent) was manipulated Results revealed, a congruence effect on the N-40: it was larger on incongruent (more demanding) than on congruent (less demanding) S-R associations. This argument strengthens the idea that the N-40 reflects decision processes. As such it can be used to clarify the mechanisms underlying decision-making.
| Subject : | : | Poster |
| Topics | : | PO: Executive functions 2 |
| PDF version | : |  PDF version |
