Distributional reaction time properties in the Eriksen task: marked differences or hidden similarities with the Simon task?

In conflict tasks, the irrelevant stimulus attribute needs to be suppressed for the correct response to be produced. In the Simon task, earlier researchers have proposed that this suppression is the reason that, after an initial increase, the interference effect decreases for longer RTs, as reflected by late, negative-going delta plots. This view has been challenged by observations of positive-going delta plots, even for long RTs, in other conflict tasks, despite a similar necessity for suppression. For late negative-going delta plots to be interpreted as reflecting suppression, a necessary, although maybe not sufficient, condition is that similar patterns should be observed for other conflict tasks. We reasoned that a similar suppression could be present, but hidden, in the Eriksen flanker task. By recording and analyzing electromyograms of the muscles involved in response execution, we could compute delta plots separately for trials that elicited a subthreshold incorrect response activation (partial error). Late negative-going delta plots were observable on partial-error trials, although they were weaker than for the Simon task, reducing the impact of this inversion on the overall distribution. We further showed that this pattern is modulated by time pressure. Those results indicate that mechanisms leading to negative-going delta plots, similar to those observed in the Simon task, are also at play in the Eriksen task. The link between negative-going delta plots and executive online control is discussed

Spatial and temporal resolutions of EEG: Is it really black and white? A scalp current density view

Among the different brain imaging techniques, electroencephalography (EEG) is classically considered as having an excellent temporal resolution, but a poor spatial one. Here, we argue that the actual temporal resolution of conventional (scalp potentials) EEG is overestimated, and that volume conduction, the main cause of the poor spatial resolution of EEG, also distorts the recovered time course of the underlying sources at scalp level, and hence degrades the actual temporal resolution of EEG. While Current Source Density (CSD) estimates, through the Surface Laplacian (SL) computation, are well known to dramatically reduce volume conduction effects and hence improve EEG spatial resolution, its positive impact on EEG temporal resolution is much less recognized. In two simulation studies, we first show how volume conduction and reference electrodes distort the scalp potential time course, and how SL transform provides a much better spatio-temporal description. We then exemplify similar effects on two empirical datasets. We show how the time courses of the scalp potentials mis-estimate the latencies of the relevant brain events and that CSD provides a much richer, and much more accurate, view of the spatio-temporal dynamics of brain activity

Neurodynamic Evidence Supports a Forced-Excursion Model of Decision-Making under Speed/Accuracy Instructions

Evolutionary pressures suggest that choices should be optimised to maximise rewards, by appropriately trading speed for accuracy. This speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) is commonly explained by variation in just the baseline-to-boundary distance, i.e. excursion, of accumulation-to-bound models of perceptual decision making. However, neural evidence is not consistent with this explanation. A compelling account of speeded choice should explain both overt behaviour and the full range of associated brain signatures. Here, we reconcile seemingly contradictory behavioural and neural findings. In two variants of the same experiment, we triangulated upon the neural underpinnings of the SAT in the human brain using both EEG and TMS. We found that distinct neural signals, namely the ERP centroparietal positivity (CPP) and a smoothed motor-evoked potential (MEP) signal, which have both previously been shown to relate to decision-related accumulation, revealed qualitatively similar average neurodynamic profiles with only subtle differences between SAT conditions. These signals were then modelled from behaviour by either incorporating traditional boundary variation or utilising a forced excursion. These model variants are mathematically equivalent, in terms of their behavioural predictions, hence providing identical fits to correct and erroneous reaction time distributions. However, the forced-excursion version instantiates SAT via a more global change in parameters and implied neural activity, a process conceptually akin to, but mathematically distinct from, urgency. This variant better captured both ERP and MEP neural profiles, suggesting that the SAT may be implemented via neural gain modulation, and reconciling standard modelling approaches with human neural data

Controlling Your Impulses: Electrical Stimulation of the Human Supplementary Motor Complex Prevents Impulsive Errors

To err is human. However, an inappropriate urge does not always result in error. Impulsive errors thus entail both a motor system capture by an urge to act and a failed inhibition of that impulse. Here we show that neuromodulatory electrical stimulation of the supplementary motor complex in healthy humans leaves action urges unchanged but prevents them from turning into overt errors. Subjects performed a choice reaction-time task known to trigger impulsive responses, leading to fast errors that can be revealed by analyzing accuracy as a function of poststimulus time. Yet, such fast errors are only the tip of the iceberg: electromyography (EMG) revealed fast subthreshold muscle activation in the incorrect response hand in an even larger proportion of overtly correct trials, revealing covert response impulses not discernible in overt behavior. Analyzing both overt and covert response tendencies enables to gauge the ability to prevent these incorrect impulses from turning into overt action errors. Hyperpolarizing the supplementary motor complex using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) preserves action impulses but prevents their behavioral expression. This new combination of detailed behavioral, EMG, and tDCS techniques clarifies the neurophysiology of impulse control, and may point to avenues for improving impulse control deficits in various neurologic and psychiatric disorders

Design of an electrochemical micromachining machine

Electrochemical micromachining (μECM) is a non-conventional machining process based on the phenomenon of electrolysis. μECM became an attractive area of research due to the fact that this process does not create any defective layer after machining and that there is a growing demand for better surface integrity on different micro applications including microfluidics systems, stress-free drilled holes in automotive and aerospace manufacturing with complex shapes, etc. This work presents the design of a next generation μECM machine for the automotive, aerospace, medical and metrology sectors. It has three axes of motion (X, Y, Z) and a spindle allowing the tool-electrode to rotate during machining. The linear slides for each axis use air bearings with linear DC brushless motors and 2-nm resolution encoders for ultra precise motion. The control system is based on the Power PMAC motion controller from Delta Tau. The electrolyte tank is located at the rear of the machine and allows the electrolyte to be changed quickly. This machine features two process control algorithms: fuzzy logic control and adaptive feed rate. A self-developed pulse generator has been mounted and interfaced with the machine and a wire ECM grinding device has been added. The pulse generator has the possibility to reverse the pulse polarity for on-line tool fabrication.The research reported in this paper is supported by the European Commission within the project “Minimizing Defects in Micro-Manufacturing Applications (MIDEMMA)” (FP7-2011-NMPICT- FoF-285614)

Design of a pulse power supply unit for micro-ECM

Electrochemical micro-machining (μECM) requires a particular pulse power supply unit (PSU) to be developed in order to achieve desired machining performance. This paper summarises the development of a pulse PSU meeting the requirements of μECM. The pulse power supply provides tens of nanosecond pulse duration, positive and negative bias voltages and a polarity switching functionality. It fulfils the needs for tool preparation with reversed pulsed ECM on the machine. Moreover, the PSU is equipped with an ultrafast overcurrent protection which prevents the tool electrode from being damaged in case of short circuits. The developed pulse PSU was used to fabricate micro-tools out of 170 μm WC-Co alloy shafts via micro-electrochemical turning and drill deep holes via μECM in a disk made of 18NiCr6. The electrolyte used for both processes was a mixture of sulphuric acid and NaNO3 aqueous solutions.The research reported in this paper is supported by the European Commission within the project “Minimizing Defects in Micro-Manufacturing Applications (MIDEMMA)” (FP7-2011-NMP-ICT-FoF-285614

Detecting and correcting partial errors: Evidence for efficient control without conscious access

Appropriate reactions to erroneous actions are essential to keeping behavior adaptive. Erring, however, is not an all-or-none process: electromyographic (EMG) recordings of the responding muscles have revealed that covert incorrect response activations (termed "partial errors") occur on a proportion of overtly correct trials. The occurrence of such "partial errors" shows that incorrect response activations could be corrected online, before turning into overt errors. In the present study, we showed that, unlike overt errors, such "partial errors" are poorly consciously detected by participants, who could report only one third of their partial errors. Two parameters of the partial errors were found to predict detection: the surface of the incorrect EMG burst (larger for detected) and the correction time (between the incorrect and correct EMG onsets; longer for detected). These two parameters provided independent information. The correct(ive) responses associated with detected partial errors were larger than the "pure-correct" ones, and this increase was likely a consequence, rather than a cause, of the detection. The respective impacts of the two parameters predicting detection (incorrect surface and correction time), along with the underlying physiological processes subtending partial-error detection, are discussed

Cortical mechanisms underlying stretch reflex adaptation to intention: A combined EEG–TMS study

International audienceDuring voluntary motor acts, potential perturbations due to transient external forces are counteracted very quickly by short- and long-latency stretch reflexes (SLSR and LLSR, respectively). The LLSR, presumably linked to a transcortical loop, can be modulated by the subjects' intention. Here, we used combined TMS-EEG to study cortical mechanisms involved in this intention-related modulation both before and during the reaction to a mechanical perturbation. Subjects had to prepare for a brisk wrist extension under the instruction either to 'resist' the perturbation or to 'let-go'. Following the perturbation, the early cortical evoked activity (45-75 ms) was greater in the 'let-go' condition; moreover, its amplitude was negatively correlated with the LLSR amplitude, regardless of condition. After 100 ms the pattern reversed, the late evoked activity (presumably linked to the voluntary reaction) was greater in the 'resist' condition. The early and late evoked activities also differed in their topography. Therefore, the cortical mechanisms involved in the intention-related LLSR modulation differ from those involved in the voluntary reaction. In addition, in response to a single-pulse TMS delivered during the expectation of the mechanical perturbation, the TMS-evoked N100 amplitude decreased when subjects intended to 'let-go', suggesting anticipatory decreased activity of intracortical inhibitory sensorimotor networks. Taken together, these results support the idea that anticipatory processes preset the sensorimotor cortex so as to adapt its early reaction to the perturbation relative to the subjects' intention