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Visuo‐spatial processing and the N1 component of the ERP
Author(s) -
Wascher Edmund,
Hoffmann Sven,
Sänger Jessica,
Grosjean Marc
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00874.x
Subject(s) - psychology , coding (social sciences) , asymmetry , fixation (population genetics) , communication , information processing , cognitive psychology , physics , demography , mathematics , quantum mechanics , sociology , population , statistics
Asymmetries in posterior ERP components, such as the N1, are generally taken to reflect the visual processing of spatial information in absolute (fixation‐based) coordinates. Yet, it is also well established that the position of an object can be coded relative to the position of other objects. To examine the ERP correlates of relative spatial coding, two experiments were conducted in which spatially neutral target stimuli were preceded, accompanied, or followed by laterally presented, task‐irrelevant accessory stimuli. Targets presented simultaneously with a lateral accessory evoked, despite physical asymmetry, a bilateral, symmetric N1. Targets that followed the accessory evoked, despite physical symmetry, an asymmetric N1, with a maximum contralateral to the accessory N1. Thus, lateralizations in the N1 range already reflect relative spatial coding rather than just the processing of the absolute location of incoming information.