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Is the target-to-target interval a critical determinant of P3 amplitude?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 1999

CRAIG J. GONSALVEZ
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Australia
EVIAN GORDON
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, Australia
SANDRA GRAYSON
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, Australia
ROBERT J. BARRY
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Australia
ILLARIO LAZZARO
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, Australia
HOMAYOUN BAHRAMALI
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, Australia
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Abstract

The P3 amplitude is augmented by decrements in target-probability, increments in the number of nontargets preceding the target, and extensions of the interstimulus interval (ISI). Each of these changes prolongs the target-to-target interval (TTI) and, consequently, results attributed to these factors might, at least partially, be accounted for by the TTI. Recent research also indicates that the P3s elicited by targets in one-, two-, and three-stimuli tasks (in which the TTI remains invariant) are similar. However, the TTI has not been examined systematically in previous research. The present study had subjects listen to a randomized ISI (0.5, 1, 2, or 4 s) version of the auditory oddball task in which targets occurred after one, two, three, four, or five nontargets. Event-related potentials were analyzed based on ISI, sequential structure, and TTI. The study examined sequence and ISI effects independent of TTI effects and demonstrated that extensions of ISI affected N1 but not P3 amplitude, extensions of TTI enhanced P3 amplitude independent of sequential structure, and sequential structure failed to influence P3 amplitude when TTI was controlled.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1999 Society for Psychophysiological Research

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