Visuo-spatial processing and the N1 component of the ERP

Asymmetries in posterior ERP components, such as the N1, are generally taken to reflect the visual processing of spatial information in absolute (fixation‐based) coordinates. Yet, it is also well established that the position of an object can be coded relative to the position of other objects. To ex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychophysiology 2009-11, Vol.46 (6), p.1270-1277
Main Authors: Wascher, Edmund, Hoffmann, Sven, Sänger, Jessica, Grosjean, Marc
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Cognition & reasoning
Electroencephalography
Electrooculography
ERP
Evoked Potentials - physiology
Executive Function - physiology
Eyes & eyesight
Female
Humans
Information processing
Male
Photic Stimulation
Physiological psychology
Reaction Time - physiology
Relative coding
Sensory perception
Space Perception - physiology
Spatial coding
Vision
Visual Perception - physiology
Young Adult
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Summary:Asymmetries in posterior ERP components, such as the N1, are generally taken to reflect the visual processing of spatial information in absolute (fixation‐based) coordinates. Yet, it is also well established that the position of an object can be coded relative to the position of other objects. To examine the ERP correlates of relative spatial coding, two experiments were conducted in which spatially neutral target stimuli were preceded, accompanied, or followed by laterally presented, task‐irrelevant accessory stimuli. Targets presented simultaneously with a lateral accessory evoked, despite physical asymmetry, a bilateral, symmetric N1. Targets that followed the accessory evoked, despite physical symmetry, an asymmetric N1, with a maximum contralateral to the accessory N1. Thus, lateralizations in the N1 range already reflect relative spatial coding rather than just the processing of the absolute location of incoming information.
ISSN:0048-5772
1469-8986
1540-5958
DOI:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00874.x