Effects of Experience and Task Difficulty on Event-Related Potentials.

摘要

Research has shown that increased task difficulty elicits decreased amplitude and an increase in latency for the p300 at the Pz electrode site. However, these have been based on research using subjects who are naive to the experimental task. Kobus, Beeler, and Stashower (1987) showed that the greater amplitude differences were found between target and non-target conditions at the Fzz electrode site. It was suggested that differences in the distribution of electrical activity may be indicative of a shift from controlled to automatic processing. The current study built on this earlier work. Increased task difficulty was expected to produce an increase in the differences observed between significant 3-way interaction for the p300 showed that amplitudes for both groups were greater for the attended condition at both the Fz and Pz sites. Attend trial amplitude values for the experienced group at the Fz electrode site were greater than for the inexperienced group, while amplitude values at the Pz site were greater for the inexperienced group. These findings provide additional support for the hypothesis that a re-distribution of electrical activity of the brain may be indicative of a shift from controlled to automatic processing. Keywords: Electrophysiology, Human performance, Task difficulty. (sdw)