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  • Title: Stimulus context determines whether non-target stimuli are processed as task-relevant or distractor information.
    Author: Sawaki R, Katayama J.
    Journal: Clin Neurophysiol; 2006 Nov; 117(11):2532-9. PubMed ID: 17005448.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVE: The P300 event-related brain potential (ERP) was elicited using a visual three-stimulus oddball paradigm (standard 0.70, target 0.15, non-target 0.15) to examine how target/standard stimulus context affects non-target processing. METHODS: Target/standard discrimination difficulty (easy or difficult) and non-target /target similarity (similar or dissimilar) were manipulated orthogonally. Participants (N=13) were instructed to respond to each infrequent target stimulus by pressing a button. RESULTS: Target stimuli in all task conditions elicited P3b, which was affected only by the difficulty of target/standard discrimination. When target/standard discrimination was easy, the amplitude of non-target P3 was larger for similar than for dissimilar non-target. In contrast, when target/standard discrimination was difficult, non-target stimuli elicited P3a, the amplitude of which was larger for dissimilar than for similar non-target. Thus, the P300 component for non-target stimuli and the pattern of the effect of target similarity on each P300 component varied as a function of the target/standard stimulus context. CONCLUSIONS: The target/standard stimulus context influences the attentional set for stimulus processing such that it determines whether non-target stimuli are processed as task-relevant or distractor information. SIGNIFICANCE: The present results are important for understanding the mechanism of cognitive modification in non-target processing.
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