Auditory associative word learning in adults: The effects of musical experience and stimulus ordering.

Evidence for sequential associative word learning in the auditory domain has been identified in infants, while adults have shown difficulties. To better understand which factors may facilitate adult auditory associative word learning, we assessed the role of auditory expertise as a learner-related property and stimulus order as a stimulus-related manipulation in the association of auditory objects and novel labels. We tested in the first experiment auditorily-trained musicians versus athletes (high-level control group) and in the second experiment stimulus ordering, contrasting object-label versus label-object presentation. Learning was evaluated from Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) during training and subsequent testing phases using a cluster-based permutation approach, as well as accuracy-judgement responses during test. Results revealed for musicians a late positive component in the ERP during testing, but neither an N400 (400-800 ms) nor behavioral effects were found at test, while athletes did not show any effect of learning. Moreover, the object-label-ordering group only exhibited emerging association effects during training, while the label-object-ordering group showed a trend-level late ERP effect (800-1200 ms) during test as well as above chance accuracy-judgement scores. Thus, our results suggest the learner-related property of auditory expertise and stimulus-related manipulation of stimulus ordering modulate auditory associative word learning in adults.

Chronic academic stress improves attentional control: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence.

Background: Detecting and responding to target objects in the visual environment is a key factor in goal-directed behavior. Exposure to chronic stress often results in alterations of prefrontal cortex (PFC) function, which may impact PFC-dependent selective attention process. This study aimed to investigate the effect of chronic academic stress on attentional control process. Method: Both the stress group and the control group performed an arrow-based version of the Eriksen Flanker task. Event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded while the participants performed the task. Results: The behavioural results exhibited decreased Flanker RT effect for the stress group compared to the control group, suggesting a reduced interference under stress. The ERP results showed that stress group showed decreased frontal N2 but increased early P3 and late P3/LPC activities compared to the control group. These results suggest reduced conflict monitoring but increased conflict resolution process under stress. Conclusions: The chronic academic stress improves attentional control by reducing the conflict monitoring and enhancing conflict resolution processes.

Electrophysiological correlation of auditory selective spatial attention in the "cocktail party" situation.

The auditory system can selectively attend to the target source in complex environments, the phenomenon known as the "cocktail party" effect. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics of electrophysiological activity associated with auditory selective spatial attention (ASSA) remain largely unexplored. In this study, single-source and multiple-source paradigms were designed to simulate different auditory environments, and microstate analysis was introduced to reveal the electrophysiological correlates of ASSA. Furthermore, cortical source analysis was employed to reveal the neural activity regions of these microstates. The results showed that five microstates could explain the spatiotemporal dynamics of ASSA, ranging from MS1 to MS5. Notably, MS2 and MS3 showed significantly lower partial properties in multiple-source situations than in single-source situations, whereas MS4 had shorter durations and MS5 longer durations in multiple-source situations than in single-source situations. MS1 had insignificant differences between the two situations. Cortical source analysis showed that the activation regions of these microstates initially transferred from the right temporal cortex to the temporal-parietal cortex, and subsequently to the dorsofrontal cortex. Moreover, the neural activity of the single-source situations was greater than that of the multiple-source situations in MS2 and MS3, correlating with the N1 and P2 components, with the greatest differences observed in the superior temporal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule. These findings suggest that these specific microstates and their associated activation regions may serve as promising substrates for decoding ASSA in complex environments.

N1 and LNC reveal the differential electrophysiological signatures of functional and hedonic images processing.

In the process of creative sentence or phrase utilization, novel and appropriate evaluations cause the different brain responses observed in event-related potentials: the N400 reflects the novelty evaluation, whereas a late negative component marks appropriate processing. Do we have similar brain reactions in image perception when we rapidly browse pictures of objects with different novelty, functional/appropriate, and hedonic value? To explore this question, participants were presented with four novel object images with high or low functional and hedonic properties, as well as the ordinary product images, with the instruction to attentively observe and understand each image. We found a clear dissociation between processing of novelty and functional value: novelty objects produced negative deflections in the N2-N400 time window relative to the ordinary object images, whereas images with high functional value elicited a larger N2 and late negative waves (LNC) resembling the late component found for the appropriate phrases. Object images with high hedonic value, however, were associated with earlier aesthetic preference reflected in smaller N1 amplitudes, but failed to elicit a LNC effect. We therefore conclude that the processing of novelty, functional, and hedonic value are dissociation, and the perception of hedonic value is earlier (N1) than the novelty processing (N400) and the verification of functional value (LNC).

A systematic review of acoustic change complex (ACC) measurements and applicability in children for the assessment of the neural capacity for sound and speech discrimination.

OBJECTIVE: The acoustic change complex (ACC) is a cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) and can be elicited by a change in an otherwise continuous sound. The ACC has been highlighted as a promising tool in the assessment of sound and speech discrimination capacity, and particularly for difficult-to-test populations such as infants with hearing loss, due to the objective nature of ACC measurements. Indeed, there is a pressing need to develop further means to accurately and thoroughly establish the hearing status of children with hearing loss, to help guide hearing interventions in a timely manner. Despite the potential of the ACC method, ACC measurements remain relatively rare in a standard clinical settings. The objective of this study was to perform an up-to-date systematic review on ACC measurements in children, to provide greater clarity and consensus on the possible methodologies, applications, and performance of this technique, and to facilitate its uptake in relevant clinical settings. DESIGN: Original peer-reviewed articles conducting ACC measurements in children (< 18 years). Data were extracted and summarised for: (1) participant characteristics; (2) ACC methods and auditory stimuli; (3) information related to the performance of the ACC technique; (4) ACC measurement outcomes, advantages, and challenges. The systematic review was conducted using PRISMA guidelines for reporting and the methodological quality of included articles was assessed. RESULTS: A total of 28 studies were identified (9 infant studies). Review results show that ACC responses can be measured in infants (from < 3 months), and there is evidence of age-dependency, including increased robustness of the ACC response with increasing childhood age. Clinical applications include the measurement of the neural capacity for speech and non-speech sound discrimination in children with hearing loss, auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) and central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). Additionally, ACCs can be recorded in children with hearing aids, auditory brainstem implants, and cochlear implants, and ACC results may guide hearing intervention/rehabilitation strategies. The review identified that the time taken to perform ACC measurements was often lengthy; the development of more efficient ACC test procedures for children would be beneficial. Comparisons between objective ACC measurements and behavioural measures of sound discrimination showed significant correlations for some, but not all, included studies. CONCLUSIONS: ACC measurements of the neural capacity to discriminate between speech and non-speech sounds are feasible in infants and children, and a wide range of possible clinical applications exist, although more time-efficient procedures would be advantageous for clinical uptake. A consideration of age and maturational effects is recommended, and further research is required to investigate the relationship between objective ACC measures and behavioural measures of sound and speech perception for effective clinical implementation.

Height matters: An EEG study of the relative height disadvantage promoting third-party punishment.

The study employed event-related potential (ERP), time-frequency analysis, and functional connectivity to comprehensively explore the influence of male's relative height on third-party punishment (TPP) and its underlying neural mechanism. The results found that punishment rate and more transfer amount are significantly greater when the height of the third-party is lower than that of the recipient, suggesting that male's height disadvantage promotes TPP. Neural results found that the height disadvantage induced a smaller N1. The height disadvantage also evoked greater P300 amplitude, more theta power, and more alpha power. Furthermore, a significantly stronger wPLI between the rTPJ and the posterior parietal and a significantly stronger wPLI between the DLPFC and the posterior parietal were observed when third-party was at the height disadvantage. These results imply that the height disadvantage causes negative emotions and affects the fairness consideration in the early processing stage; The third-party evaluates the blame of violators and makes an appropriate punishment decision later. Our findings indicate that anger and reputation concern caused by height disadvantage promote TPP. The current study holds significance as it underscores the psychological importance of height in males, broadens the perspective on factors influencing TPP, validates the promoting effect of personal disadvantages on prosocial behavior, enriches our understanding of indirect reciprocity theory, and extends the application of the evolution theory of Napoleon complex.

Aggressiveness, inhibitory control, and emotional states: A provocation paradigm.

The current study examines the effects of trait aggressiveness, inhibitory control and emotional states on aggressive behavior in a laboratory paradigm. One hundred and fifty-one adult participants took part (73 men, 71 women, and 7 nondisclosed). Event Related Potentials (ERPs) during a Go/No-Go task were utilized to capture the extent of inhibitory processing, with a laboratory provocation paradigm used to assess aggression. Contrary to the expectations, negative affective responses to provocation were negatively associated only with short-lived aggression and only among those with high past aggressiveness. Furthermore, past aggressiveness was related to a continuous increase in laboratory aggressive behavior regardless of the level of inhibitory control (P3 difference amplitude). However, feeling hostile was associated with short-lived aggressive behavior, only in those with lower levels of inhibitory control. These findings demonstrate the effect of distinct mechanisms on different patterns of aggressive behavior.

A new integrated rough multi-criteria decision-making model for enterprise resource planning software selection.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is widely used to boost the total market power of businesses. The wrong selection is one of the key reasons why ERP installations fail. Due to the complexity of the business environment and the range of ERP systems, choosing an ERP system is a complex and time-consuming procedure. ERP alternatives may be assessed using several criteria, so the ERP selection process may be considered a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. In this study, the rough best worst method (BWM) was used to determine criteria weights, while the newly developed rough integrated simple weighted sum product (WISP) was used to rank ERP alternatives. Results suggest that the SFT-4 coded software is regarded as the best option, followed by SFT-5, SFT-6, SFT-2, SFT-3, and SFT-1. Results of the newly developed rough WISP method are compared to those of existing rough techniques in the sensitivity analysis. The differences between them have been found to be negligible. The outcomes show how effectively developed rough BWM and WISP integrated method performs in terms of ERP selection with usability, accuracy, ease of use, and consistency. This study will help decision-makers in a context where ERP is implemented choose the best ERP software for different sectors.

The influence of social knowledge structures on hostile attribution bias in aggressive and nonaggressive individuals: An ERP study.

According to several social-cognitive models, social knowledge structures described as hostile scripts or schemas may explain why aggressive individuals are prone to attribute hostile intention to others' ambiguous behaviors, a cognitive bias called hostile attribution bias (HAB). The aggression-related concepts in aggressive individuals' semantic memory would be highly accessible, notably through the activation of hostile concepts in nonhostile social contexts, and such an activation would result in HAB. The aim of the study was to test this hypothesis using the N400 component with EEG measurements to assess objectively, in real time, the violation of hostile expectations following a nonhostile situation. To this end, scenarios with a clear nonhostile context (mismatch condition) vs. without nonhostile context (match condition) followed by a character's ambiguous provocative behavior were presented to readers, and ERPs to critical words that specified the hostile intent behind the behavior were analysed. Twelve aggressive and twelve nonaggressive individuals participated in the study. The presentation of a critical word (hostile intent) that violated nonhostile expectation caused an N400 response among nonaggressive whereas such an N400 effect was absent in aggressive individuals. The results suggest that, in nonaggressive individuals, a nonhostile social context activates nonhostile concepts, whereas in the same context, aggressive individuals activate nonhostile as well as hostile concepts. Numerous research applications of the Hostile Expectancy Violation paradigm in the field of HAB are discussed.

Temporal change and impact on air quality of an energy recovery plant using the M-BACI design in Gipuzkoa.

A significant concern in our society is the potential impact on both health and the environment of air pollutants released during the incineration of waste. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct thorough control and monitoring measures. In this context, the objective of this research was to study the evolution of particulate matter (PM2.5) and associated trace elements during the period before and after the installation of an Energy Recovery Plant (ERP). For that, a descriptive and temporal analysis of PM2.5 concentration and composition were performed on two similar areas (impact/control) using the Before-After/Control-Impact (BACI) design and two periods (before from January 01, 2018 to February 06, 2020 and after from December 10, 2020 to September 30, 2022). Results showed a decrease in the levels of PM2.5 and associated trace elements is observed in the impact zone (IZ) and in the control zone (CZ) throughout the study period. In the case of PM2.5, the most notable decrease occurred in the period of the start-up of the ERP, a period that coincides with the confinement and restrictions of COVID, with a subsequent increase in both zones, without reaching the levels observed in the period prior to the start-up of the ERP. Selenium is the only trace element that increases significantly in the IZ. In conclusion, a decrease is observed for all pollutants except selenium in both zones, although less pronounced in the IZ. Since selenium already showed an upward trend in the phase prior to the start of the ERP, it is necessary to investigate its evolution and find out the possible cause.

Management of drug supply chain information based on "artificial intelligence + vendor managed inventory" in China: perspective based on a case study.

Objectives: To employ a drug supply chain information system to optimize drug management practices, reducing costs and improving efficiency in financial and asset management. Methods: A digital artificial intelligence + vendor managed inventory (AI+VMI)-based system for drug supply chain information management in hospitals has been established. The system enables digitalization and intelligentization of purchasing plans, reconciliations, and consumption settlements while generating purchase, sales, inventory reports as well as various query reports. The indicators for evaluating the effectiveness before and after project implementation encompass drug loss reporting, inventory discrepancies, inter-hospital medication retrieval frequency, drug expenditure, and cloud pharmacy service utilization. Results: The successful implementation of this system has reduced the hospital inventory rate to approximately 20% and decreased the average annual inventory error rate from 0.425‰ to 0.025‰, significantly boosting drug supply chain efficiency by 42.4%. It has also minimized errors in drug application, allocation, and distribution while increasing adverse reaction reports. Drug management across multiple hospital districts has been standardized, leading to improved access to medicines and enhanced patient satisfaction. Conclusion: The AI+VMI system improves drug supply chain management by ensuring security, reducing costs, enhancing efficiency and safety of drug management, and elevating the professional competence and service level of pharmaceutical personnel.

Improving memory through choice and deliberation in decision-making: Evidence from ERPs.

The goal of decision-making is to select one option and disregard the others. However, deliberation can also create a memory association between the chosen and unchosen options. This study aims to investigate how choice and deliberation affect the memory of postdecision options and the underlying mechanisms. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we examined item recognition (Experiment 1) and associative recognition (Experiment 2) following certain and uncertain decisions. In Experiment 1, items that were chosen in certain decisions were remembered better than unchosen items. There was no difference between chosen and unchosen items in uncertain decisions. Moreover, a late recollection-related LPC (a late positive component) old/new effect was larger for chosen items than unchosen items in certain decisions. The early familiarity-related FN400 and the late recollection-related LPC old/new effects were significant for chosen and unchosen items in uncertain decisions. In Experiment 2, there was no difference in performance on associative memory. A FN400 old/new effect (an index of integration) in certain or uncertain decisions was not observed. Although significant LPC old/new effects were found in both certain and uncertain decisions, no difference was found between them. These results propose that decision-making can enhance item memory performance through two distinct processes: value and elaboration. Elaboration involves focusing on the details within items rather than integrating items into a cohesive whole.

Event-related potentials during encoding coincide with subsequent forced-choice mnemonic discrimination.

Computational models and eye-tracking research suggest that encoding variability accounts for the reduced recognition of targets (A) when paired with non-corresponding lures (B') relative to corresponding lures (A'). The current study examined whether neural activity during learning coincided with subsequent performance on the forced-choice Mnemonic Similarity Task (MST). Event-related potential responses were collected during encoding while young adults completed A-B' and A-A' trials of the forced-choice MST. Consistent with previous research, performance was lower on A-B' trials than A-A' trials. The subsequent memory effect was not significant for the A-A' test format. However, for A-B' trials, we observed a significant Accuracy × Stimulus interaction 1000-1200 ms poststimulus onset across frontal and fronto-central electrodes. As hypothesized, subsequently correct A-B' trials were associated with a larger amplitude response at encoding to the target (A) than the original version of the non-corresponding lure (B). However, subsequently incorrect trials were associated with a larger amplitude response to the non-corresponding lure (B) than the target stimulus (A). These findings provide additional support for the effect of encoding variability on mnemonic discrimination.

The time course of semantic ambiguity in visual word recognition: behavioral and ERP evidence for the lexical-semantic effect.

Introduction: Homonyms are words with multiple, unrelated meanings that share a single form and pronunciation. These words provide valuable insights into how semantic representation is retrieved and selected independently of orthography and phonology. This study aims to investigate the temporal dynamics of lexical and semantic processing in the visual recognition of Korean words. Specifically, we examine how homonyms and unambiguous words are processed differently during a lexical decision task (LDT) with EEG recording, considering the effects of word frequency and the number of meanings (NOMs). Methods: Participants performed a lexical decision task where they were required to determine if a visually presented stimulus was a valid Korean word. We compared the behavioral responses and event-related potentials (ERPs) evoked by homonyms and unambiguous words, each possessing either high or low word frequency. Both subjective and objective NOMs were measured and manipulated, while controlling for the subjective balance of individual frequencies of meanings to control for confounding from the relatedness of meaning (ROM). For ERP analysis, a non-parametric cluster-based permutation test was employed in addition to the two time windows of interest (i.e., N400 and P600). Results: Behavioral results indicated a marginally significant interaction between word frequency and semantic ambiguity along with a main effect of word frequency, showing faster and more accurate responses for high-frequency words. An ambiguity advantage was observed only for low-frequency words, with no significant effect found for high-frequency words. ERP results revealed that lexical-semantic interactions were reflected in the modulations of the N400 and P600 components. High-frequency homonyms elicited an enhanced N400 amplitude, while low-frequency homonyms showed a reduced P600 amplitude. Discussion: The findings suggest that the activation of semantic information occurs simultaneously with lexical processing, rather than during post-lexical or decision-making processes. Furthermore, considering balanced homonyms were employed in this study, inhibitory competition may arise from the high-frequency individual meanings of high-frequency words. In contrast, in low-frequency words, a facilitative effect may arise from gains in global semantic activation or semantic feedback to the orthographic level.

Intact painful sensation but enhanced non-painful sensation in individuals with autistic traits.

Somatosensory abnormalities are commonly recognized as diagnostic criteria in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and may also exist in individuals with autistic traits. The present research included two studies to explore the painful and non-painful sensation and their cognitive-neurological mechanisms of individuals with autistic traits. Study 1 included 358 participants to assess the relationship between autistic traits and pain/non-pain sensitivities using questionnaires: the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire, and the Highly Sensitive Person Scale, respectively. Study 1 found that autistic traits were positively correlated with non-pain sensitivity, but not associated with pain sensitivity. Study 2 recruited 1,167 participants whose autistic traits were assessed using the AQ. Subsequently, thirty-three participants who scored within the top 10% and bottom 10% on the AQ were selected into High-AQ and Low-AQ groups, respectively, to explore the cognitive-neural responses of individuals with autistic traits to both painful and non-painful stimuli with event-related potential (ERP) technology. Results of Study 2 showed that the High-AQ group showed higher intensity ratings, more negative emotional reactions, and larger N1 amplitudes than the Low-AQ group to the non-painful stimuli, but no difference of response to the painful stimuli was found between High-AQ and Low-AQ groups. These findings suggest that individuals with autistic traits may experience enhanced non-painful sensation but intact painful sensation.

The neurocognitive processing mechanism of English subject-verb agreement by Chinese-speaking learners.

Determiner phrases (DPs), an overarching term, can be classified into two determiner types: referential determiner phrases (RDPs, e.g., the boy) and quantificational determiner phrases (QDPs, e.g., each boy). Using the event-related potential (ERP) technique, this study explored the modulation of RDP vs. QDP in the online processing of English subject-verb agreement with omission errors by Chinese learners of English, addressing the question of whether singular quantification increases or decreases Chinese learners' sensitivity to agreement violations. The experiment manipulated the determiner type, specifically RDP vs. QDP, and grammaticality (grammatical vs. ungrammatical). The results indicated that similar to previous studies, a P600 effect was elicited in response to subject-verb agreement violations with omission errors, demonstrating that Chinese L2 learners are sensitive to such agreement violations. Additionally, the ERP patterns exhibited variations due to D-linking and number specification of RDP and QDP. Regarding D-linking, subject-verb agreement violations in the QDP conditions, necessitating integration of discourse-related knowledge, elicited laterally and frontally distributed P600 effects associated with integration complexity at the discourse level; however, non-D-linked referential determiners elicited the posteriorly-distributed P600 effects. Differences in number specification resulted in the distinctive P600 latencies and whether P600 was preceded by N400 or not. While both the RDP and QDP conditions exhibited the P600 effects, the onset latency of this effect in the number-unspecified RDP condition was 300 ms later compared to the number-specified QDP condition. Furthermore, an additional N400 component observed in the RDP condition suggests that L2 learners acquire morphologically complex subject-verb agreements by rote, treating them as unanalyzed chunks. This N400 component was absent in the QDP condition. From these results, the conclusion can be drawn that L2 learners are sensitive to the subject-verb agreement violations with omission errors, and L2 processing patterns of subject-verb agreement vary with different features of determiners, providing further evidence for the cue-based retrieval model during comprehension of grammatical sentences. Pedagogical implications are provided, and the future research direction is suggested.

Processing of visual hapaxes in picture naming task: An event-related potential study.

Object recognition and visual categorization are typically swift and seemingly effortless tasks that involve numerous underlying processes. In our investigation, we utilized a picture naming task to explore the processing of rarely encountered objects (visual hapaxes) in comparison to common objects. Our aim was to determine the stage at which these rare objects are classified as unnamable. Contrary to our expectations and in contrast to some prior research on event-related potentials (ERPs) with novel and atypical objects, no differences between conditions were observed in the late time windows corresponding to the P300 or N400 components. However, distinctive patterns between hapaxes and common objects surfaced in three early time windows, corresponding to the posterior N1 and P2 waves, as well as a widespread N2 wave. According to the ERP data, the differentiation between hapaxes and common objects occurs within the first 380 ms of the processing line, involving only limited and indirect top-down influence.

Neuromechanical Proficiency in Elite Performance Decision-Making: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Analysis.

This research focuses intensively on the neural mechanisms of action selection responses in elite athletes during high-stakes decision-making. It emphasizes the neuromechanical dimensions of these processes, contrasting the responses of expert and novice players within a theoretical framework of neural information processing in high-performance contexts. Utilizing advanced EEG technologies, including event-related potential (ERP) analysis, the study captures a comprehensive view of both behavioral and neurophysiological data. The central aim is to unravel the intricate neural underpinnings that distinguish elite athletes in their decision-making strategies. Key findings highlight: 1) Enhanced accuracy and swifter reaction times in elite athletes during the action selection phase; 2) Significant neurophysiological differences, marked by pronounced N1 peak amplitudes with prolonged latencies, reduced P2 peak amplitudes with stable latencies, decreased P3 peak amplitudes with reduced latencies, and increased average PSW amplitudes. These discoveries significantly advance our understanding of the neural foundations of expert decision-making in high-performance sports. This study not only sheds light on the cognitive and neural dynamics of elite sports performance but also provides a foundation for developing training and performance enhancement techniques in various high-stakes domains.

Event-related brain potentials in lexical processing with Chinese characters show effects of contextual diversity but not word frequency.

The diversity of contexts in which a word occurs, operationalized as CD, is strongly correlated with response times in visual word recognition, with higher CD words being recognized faster. CD and token word frequency (WF) are highly correlated but in behavioral studies when other variables that affect word visual recognition are controlled for, the WF effect is eliminated when contextual diversity (CD) is controlled. In contrast, the only event-related potential (ERP) study to examine CD and WF Vergara-Martínez et al., Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 17, 461-474, (2017) found effects of both WF and CD with different distributions in the 225- to 325-ms time window. We conducted an ERP study with Chinese characters to explore the neurocognitive dynamics of WF and CD. We compared three groups of characters: (1) characters high in frequency and low in CD; (2) characters low in frequency and low in CD; and (3) characters high in frequency and high in CD. Behavioral data showed significant effects of CD but not WF. Character CD, but not character frequency, modulated the late positive component (LPC): high-CD characters elicited a larger LPC, widely distributed, with largest amplitude at the posterior sites compared to low-CD characters in the 400-to 600-ms time window, consistent with earlier ERP studies of WF in Chinese, and with the hypothesis that CD affects semantic and context-based processes. No WF effect on any ERP components was observed when CD was controlled. The results are consistent with behavioral results showing CD but not WF effects, and in particular with a "context constructionist" framework.

Evaluation of Different Types of Stimuli in an Event-Related Potential-Based Brain-Computer Interface Speller under Rapid Serial Visual Presentation.

Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) is currently a suitable gaze-independent paradigm for controlling visual brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) based on event-related potentials (ERPs), especially for users with limited eye movement control. However, unlike gaze-dependent paradigms, gaze-independent ones have received less attention concerning the specific choice of visual stimuli that are used. In gaze-dependent BCIs, images of faces-particularly those tinted red-have been shown to be effective stimuli. This study aims to evaluate whether the colour of faces used as visual stimuli influences ERP-BCI performance under RSVP. Fifteen participants tested four conditions that varied only in the visual stimulus used: grey letters (GL), red famous faces with letters (RFF), green famous faces with letters (GFF), and blue famous faces with letters (BFF). The results indicated significant accuracy differences only between the GL and GFF conditions, unlike prior gaze-dependent studies. Additionally, GL achieved higher comfort ratings compared with other face-related conditions. This study highlights that the choice of stimulus type impacts both performance and user comfort, suggesting implications for future ERP-BCI designs for users requiring gaze-independent systems.