Signal processing and analysis of human brain potentials (EEG) [Exercise 5]

(This assignment is directly based on the ERP PURSUE Course)

The purpose of this assignment is to develop your ability to read and critically evaluate a journal article that uses ERP techniques to answer a research question. Specifically, you should be able to identify the research question and important elements of the research design, and explain how the ERP data help to answer this question. Don’t get bogged down with other details in the paper. Instead, use the assignment questions to guide your reading. Type your answers in the text field below each question. USE YOUR OWN WORDS to answer the questions.

Assignment

Read through the questions on this assignment, and then read the following article: Tanaka, J. W., & Curran, T. (2001). A neural basis for expert object recognition. Psychol Sci, 12(1), 43–47. Find the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00308 (maybe behind paywall) or here: http://psych.colorado.edu/~tcurran/Tanaka_Curran_2001.pdf

  1. In your own words, what was the research question?

  2. Using an if/then statement, what was the hypothesis? The β€œif” part should relate to the theory, and the β€œthen” part should relate to the expected ERP results.

  3. Complete the table below describing the order of trial events and their timing.

Event Number Event Name Timing
1
2
3
4
5

Possible events: Picture, Category, Blank, Fixation, True/False Prompt possible timings: 255ms, 570ms, 735ms, 1000-1500ms, until response

  1. To which event in the trial structure was the event-related potential synchronized?

  2. What were the dependent variable(s) in the reported ANOVAs?

  3. What were the channels of interest, and how did they decide which ones to analyze?

  4. Does the graph in Figure 2 plot negative UP (the wrong way) or DOWN (the right way)?

  5. Figure 3 shows the scalp distribution of the mean voltage differences in the expertise effect. Do you think these results support a functional (qualitative) difference between experts and novices, or a quantitative difference, and why?

  6. Based on the results of this experiment, do YOU think an enhanced N170 component is domain-specific for faces or does it reflect expertise-related activity? Back up your answer with the statistical finding you found most relevant and convincing

  7. Suggest a follow-up ERP experiment and explain how it would extend these findings.