Time of day, repeated testing, and interblock interval effects on P300 amplitude

Time of day, repeated testing, and interblock interval effects on P300 amplitude were investigated. Subjects (N = 50) were tested using a standard oddball paradigm in either morning or afternoon sessions consisting of six test blocks per session. Amplitude of P300 was significantly higher in the mor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysiology & behavior Vol. 47; no. 4; p. 653
Main Authors Wesensten, N J, Badia, P, Harsh, J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.04.1990
Subjects
Adult
Arousal - physiology
Attention - physiology
Circadian Rhythm - physiology
Electroencephalography - instrumentation
Evoked Potentials, Auditory - physiology
Female
Habituation, Psychophysiologic - physiology
Humans
Male
Microcomputers
Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
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Summary:Time of day, repeated testing, and interblock interval effects on P300 amplitude were investigated. Subjects (N = 50) were tested using a standard oddball paradigm in either morning or afternoon sessions consisting of six test blocks per session. Amplitude of P300 was significantly higher in the morning than in the afternoon for all test blocks. In addition, amplitude of P300 habituated across test blocks from a mean of 9.59 microV on Block 1 to a mean of 4.98 microV on Block 6. Inserting a one-hour interval between Blocks 2 and 3 attenuated the rate of habituation. The results indicate that time of day, repeated testing, and interblock intervals affect P300 amplitude. Amplitude changes due to time of day may reflect circadian variations in cognitive resources indexed by the P300 component, while decrements due to repeated testing may reflect changes in allocation of resources across test sessions.
ISSN:0031-9384
DOI:10.1016/0031-9384(90)90073-D