Behavioural and electrophysiological correlates of lightness contrast and assimilation.

Lightness contrast and assimilation are opposite phenomena: in contrast grey targets appear darker when bordering bright rather than dark surfaces; in assimilation grey targets appear lighter when bordering bright rather than dark surfaces. The underlying neurophysiological mechanisms of these phenomena are not known. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between contrast and assimilation, and the timing and levels of perceptual and cognitive processing using combined behavioural and electrophysiological methods. Thirty undergraduate students (23 female, age range 18-48 years) participated in a forced-choice (grey target is lighter/darker than a comparison square) task, using stimuli designed such that the inducers were in two configurations (small and large) and two shades (white and black). The behavioural data (more consistent and faster responses) corroborated previous findings of stronger contrast effects with white inducers and stronger assimilation effects with black inducers. According to the Event-Related Potentials (ERP) results the mean amplitude was larger in conditions with less consistent and slower behavioural responses. Thus, with contrast responses P1 amplitude was larger with black than white inducers, and N1 amplitude was larger to assimilation than contrast when the configuration of the stimulus was held constant. These results suggest contrast may occur as early as P1 (~ 110 ms) and assimilation may occur later in N2 (~ 220 ms), whereas in some conditions, differences in ERPs associated with contrast vs assimilation may happen as early as in N1 (~ 170 m), in occipital and parietal cortical sites.

Individual Differences in Performance Speed Are Associated With a Positivity/Negativity Bias. An ERP and Behavioral Study.

There is a current dispute over the origins, incidence, and development of Positivity Bias, i.e., preferential processing of positive relative to negative information. We addressed this question using a multi-method technique of behavioral, psychometric and event-related potential (ERP) measures in a lexical decision task (LDT). Twenty-four university students (11 female) participated (age range 18-26), but four were omitted owing to data issues. Participants were classified as Positivity Biased (PB) if their LDT responses to positive words were faster than negative words, and vice versa for those classified as Negativity Biased (NB), leading to a group of 11 PB participants and a group of 9 NB participants. Interestingly, the PB group was significantly faster overall than the NB group and had significantly shorter P2 component ERP latencies in the left occipital region. Furthermore, the PB group had significantly higher scores for expressive suppression (ES), together with higher scores for Crystallized Knowledge and for cognitive reappraisal (CR). These results suggest that around 55% of the students had Positivity Bias, and these were more efficient in processing information and had better emotion regulation abilities than those with a Negativity Bias.

Exploring the Relationship Between Callous-Unemotional Traits, Empathy Processing and Affective Valence in a General Population.

Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits are personality attributes, which are associated with a deficit of affective valence and reduced empathetic responding in high CU trait clinical populations. The aim of the research was to explore whether a similar pattern of empathy and emotional responding correlated with CU trait manifestation in the general population. A total of 124 participants completed the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Empathy Quotient, an expression recognition task, and a measure of affective response. Negative correlations with CU trait score were observed for both cognitive empathy and emotional empathy. Accuracy in the identification of fearful expressions presented a negative association with CU trait score. Self-rating of affective valence, when viewing both positive and negative images, indicated a universal reduction in emotional response associated with increased CU trait manifestation.

Neurophysiological and behavioural correlates of coherent motion perception in dyslexia.

Coherent motion perception was tested in nine adolescents with dyslexia and 10 control participants matched for age and IQ using low contrast stimuli with three levels of coherence (10%, 25% and 40%). Event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioural performance data were obtained. No significant between-group differences were found in performance accuracy and response latencies of correct responses, for early (P1, N1, and P2) or late (P3) ERP peaks. However, attenuated early ERPs in the 10% coherent condition correlated significantly with lower performance accuracy (r = -.66) and with the magnitude of literacy deficit (r = -.46).

The accuracy of metric judgements: perception of surface normal.

Observers adjusted a probe (a short rod) to appear normal to a planar surface slanted in depth. In Experiment 1, observers (N=12) performed this metric task in two conditions: with reduced cues to calibration of binocular viewing parameters and with full cues. The results provided evidence for the use of an internal working metric in metric tasks because they confirm predictions that (i) errors should be largely systematic and accounted for by assuming an inaccurate working metric and (ii) this metric should be consistent with miscalibration of relevant viewing parameters. The data support the prediction that performance errors decrease in a manner consistent with improved binocular calibration, when better cues to relevant viewing parameters are provided. We performed two additional control experiments as further tests of the binocular miscalibration account, to determine whether performance in Experiment 1 could be explained instead by the use of monocular cues. We found that monocular performance was significantly poorer than binocular performance in reduced-cue conditions (Experiment 2) and full-cue conditions (Experiment 3). These control experiments provide confirmation that binocular cues contribute to performance in the full-cue conditions of Experiment 1, and that disparity was the only effective cue to slant in reduced-cue conditions.

Reading words and pseudowords in dyslexia: ERP and behavioural tests in English-speaking adolescents.

The study reports neurophysiological and behavioural correlates of lexical decision processes in English speaking dyslexic and non-dyslexic readers. Nine dyslexic adolescents (ages 15.6-17.8) and 9 control (ages 15.4-19.3) adolescents were tested, and the event related potentials (ERPs) to words and pseudowords were recorded simultaneously with behavioural measures. As expected, both groups showed significantly lower accuracy and longer response times for the pseudowords. Furthermore, overall performance (in terms of lower accuracy and longer response times) was significantly worse for the dyslexic group. The ERP analysis indicated that the later positive peaks, P4 (around 400 ms from stimulus onset) and P5 (around 500 ms), were significantly delayed and attenuated for the dyslexic group. Analysis of the early ERP peaks recorded in the occipitotemporal region led to an interesting dissociation. The controls showed a left lateralised Condition effect, with the amplitude of P1 significantly smaller to words than pseudowords. By contrast, there was no such lexical effect for the dyslexic group, with equal P1 amplitudes for words and pseudowords, at the control level for pseudowords. The deviations in the early ERP components of dyslexics support the evidence of deficits in pre-lexical visual word form recognition within the first 110 ms of activation together with altered hemispheric asymmetry. In addition, the slowed and attenuated late ERP components and weaker behavioural performance of the dyslexic group highlight deficits in the later, cognitive, processing stages.

The effects of ageing on stereopsis. A VEP study.

Differences in brain activation between young (n = 11, ages 21-35) and elderly (n = 8, ages 70-84) healthy participants were studied using visual evoked potentials (VEPs) to different kinds of computer generated random-dot patterns. The main stimulus of interest was a 2 x 2 array of rectangles whose rectangles moved to and fro in depth. Control conditions were similar 2 x 2 arrays, one with side-to-side lateral motion (LM) of the rectangles, and one a stationary baseline condition. The third non-stereo stimulus was an expanding field of small dots in radial motion (RM). Significant stereo related activation was found in both age groups. The stereo VEPs showed a longer latency of depth reversal triggered VEP peaks compared to control LM VEPs. The amplitudes of LM VEPs were larger than the baseline VEPs. Age-related differences were found not only in stereo but also in the other conditions. Thus the latency of early VEP peaks was shorter and their amplitude higher in the elderly for LM and baseline conditions, and the younger participants showed significantly higher activation in the later VEP peaks of all conditions. Our main finding is no evidence for age related stereo specific effects in brain activation, but instead more general and subtle changes that affect widely different visual stimulus conditions.