Contingent Negative Variation: Sensitivity to Directed Attention

The exact nature of the contingent negative variation (CNV) event-related potential (ERP) remains unclear after decades of research. Although this ERP has long been associated with anticipation of motor responses, it remains present in the absence of physical action. Attention and arousal may better account for production of this ERP. In the current study, we examined the role directed attention may play in CNV production, while controlling for the expectancy of stimulus presentation based on the mean probability of stimulus duration. We hypothesized that if direction of attention, rather than probability of stimulus presentation, had the most pronounced effect, differences in slope and mean amplitude during different measurement windows would be seen, based on the length of different auditory stimuli. CNV slope was found to differ as a function of attention allocation. The potential role attention plays on CNV production as it relates to complex, time-based decisional-making processes is discussed