Topographic Mapping of Brain Activity
Abstract
The general purpose of this research was to relate topographical mapping of brain electrical activity to performance on several tasks with different cognitive demands. A total of 35 subjects were studied. Fifteen subjects participated in a linguistic cognitive task. Eight subjects participated in exploratory studies of the Sternberg memory task. Based on these exploratory studies, twelve subjects participated in an experiment in which event related cortical potentials were recorded while they performed the Sternberg task. The overall results indicate that brain topography is a potentially powerful technique for relating brain functions to performance on tasks with varying cognitive demands. The present results with the Sternberg task, for example, not only confirmed past research results but also clearly indicated relationships between brain functions and performance on this task that had not previously been shown. One example was that a negative event related potential component (ERP) at 200 ms after the presentation of the stimulus was related to response set performance (positive vs. negative responses) primarily in the left hemisphere and more specifically in areas of the left temporal lobe often involved in memory and/or speech reception and articulation. These and other results are discussed in the report. Keywords: Electroencephalography psychophysiology.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA204056
Entities
People
- Ernest S. Barrett
- Glenn F. Wilson
Organizations
- University of Texas Medical Branch