The N2pc Component in Studies of Visual Attention

• Published in: Neuroscience and behavioral physiology Vol. 52; no. 8; pp. 1299 - 1309
• Main Authors: Stoletniy, A. S., Alekseeva, D. S., Babenko, V. V., Anokhina, P. V., Yavna, D. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.10.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Attention; Behavioral Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cognitive ability; Electrodes; Event-related potentials; Experiments; Neurobiology; Neurosciences; Visual perception; Visual stimuli; distractor; sequential search; attention selectivity; relevant stimulus; N2pc; event-related potentials (ERP); attention; parallel search; lateralized ERP; filtering; target
• ISSN: 0097-0549; 1573-899X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11055-023-01359-y

This article reviews the literature on the nature and properties of the negative deviation of the N2pc event-related potentials. As a rule, this lateralized component occurs 180–300 msec after the onset of visual stimulus presentation and is calculated as the difference between the cerebral responses recorded in the contralateral parietal-occipital electrodes of both hemispheres. N2pc is currently regarded as a reliable indicator of the involvement of the brain’s cognitive resources in the process of identification of the location of a target. It was initially suggested that N2pc reflects the process suppressing the influences of irrelevant stimuli during perception, but other points of view on its functional role have subsequently arisen, as data on its relationship not only with the processes ensuring filtering out of distractors but also with processing of target stimuli themselves. In addition, the features of the occurrence of this component provide for studies of the mechanisms of the deployment of attention in humans and animals. N2pc has also found applications in the study of attention in people with various mental and physical disorders.