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Volume 16: Number 2: Article 2
Differential Event-Related Potentials to Targets and Decoys in a Guessing Task
Bruce E. McDonough, Norman S. Don, and Charles A. Warren, Kairos
Foundation, University of Illinois at Chicago
Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 20 subjects
performing a computerized, forced-choice guessing task. On each of 40
trials, ERPs were elicited by digitized images of 4 playing cards, sequentially
presented on a video monitor for 150 ms. After the last card was presented,
subjects guessed which of the 4 cards would be the target for that trial.
Following the subject's guess, the computer randomly selected one of
the 4 cards to be the target and presented this as feedback; the remaining
3 cards served as nontarget decoys for the trial. We found that a negative
Slow Wave measured at 150-500 ms post-stimulus had greater amplitude
when elicited by targets than when elicited by nontarget decoys (p ¾
.05). This result indicates an apparent communications anomaly because
no viable conventional explanation of the ERP differential could be
identified. It is the fourth study in our laboratory employing essentially
the same design to yield this or a similar ERP effect.
Keywords: event-related potential (ERP), slow wave, communications
anomaly, anomalous information transfer, ESP, guessing task, target
stimuli
FULL TEXT:
Differential Event-Related Potentials to Targets and Decoys in a Guessing Task
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