Electrophysiological correlates of cognitive function

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the investigation of the relationship between mental processes and slow potential changes recorded from the scalp. The evidence for a relationship between a particular example of event related potentials (ERPs), the contingent negative variation (CNV) and cognitive processes is reviewed. The psychological concepts employed are ill-defined and the mechanisms generating slow potential changes poorly understood. Furthermore, the CNV is widely reported as if it were a unitary phenomenon, despite evidence for topographic differences, and task dependent variations in the components of the wave form. The classical CNV recording paradigm(simple warned reaction time) is a special case which has resulted in the misinterpretation of the relationship between slow potential changes and cognitive processes...