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Biomedical subjects

F Macar

Publications and source records attributed to F Macar.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Can the level of prefrontal activity provide an index of performance in humans?

The experiment reported here was aimed at determining whether the level of brain activity can be used as an index of subjects' performance on a temporal task. The discrimination of durations constituted the task. An array of four A's appeared on a screen, and subjects had to decide whether the letters remained on the screen for a short or a long duration as learned in a practice phase. This task allowed us to compare the level of brain activity obtained in correct and incorrect responses. The current density measures recorded over prefrontal areas showed that the level of activity obtained with correct responses was lower than those obtained with incorrect responses. This suggests that a good performance could be the result of an economic, but efficient, information-processing mechanism in the brain.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Programming the duration of a motor sequence: role of the primary and supplementary motor areas in man.

Event-related potentials were recorded in a reaction time (RT) paradigm, where the duration of a learned interval (either 0.7 s or 2.5 s) delimited by two brief button-presses was to be accurately controlled. A preparatory signal (PS) either did not give or gave prior information concerning the duration of the following response (neutral condition or primed conditions, respectively). In the latter case, the information was either validated (valid condition) or invalidated (invalid condition) by the response signal (RS). When duration was not known in advance (invalid and neutral conditions), RTs were longer before a response of short than long duration. This difference was not found under the valid condition. During the preparatory period (PP), the amplitude of the contingent negative variation (CNV) was larger when the duration was primed than when it was not. A larger CNV appeared when the PS primed a short rather than a long duration. This effect occurred in the early part of the PP over the supplementary motor area (SMA) and in its latest part over the primary motor area (MI). The RT and the electrophysiological pattern were interpreted as revealing the occurrence of programming operations regarding the temporal dimension of the response. The time course of the CNV over the SMA and MI suggested that these two areas were hierarchically organized. Between the RS and the onset of the response, differences probably related to programming effects were still found over MI: the activities were larger under the valid than under the neutral condition. However, no sign of deprogramming (expected in the invalid condition) was observed: similar amplitudes were found under the neutral and invalid conditions. Deprogramming operations seemed to be postponed during response execution where the invalid condition evoked larger activities than the two other conditions over the SMA. Finally, MI but not the SMA yielded a Bereitschaftpotential before the second press ending the response (i.e., during response execution). These results suggest that the duration of a motor response can be a part of the motor program and that the SMA plays a major role in programming processes but not in response execution, contrary to MI.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1994

Production of short timing responses: a comparative study with a deafferented patient.

How far can proprioception contribute to time keeping? To answer this question, a deafferented patient and neurologically normal subjects produced 1- or 5-sec durations in a sustained (continuous finger press) or discrete (two successive finger taps) manner, with and without Knowledge of Results. The findings were that: (1) proprioceptive afferents contribute to timing regulation in motor production of short durations; (2) this role can be rapidly compensated by Knowledge of Results; (3) the proprioceptive contribution is more important for sustained than for discrete performances; (4) stable performances are produced even when KR is withdrawn, suggesting familiarization with KR leads to the establishment of a mnemonic trace.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Controlled attention sharing influences time estimation.

A seminal attentional model of time estimation predicts that subjective duration will be positively correlated to the amount of attention given to temporal processing. This prediction holds under prospective conditions, in which one is forewarned that judgments of time will be asked, in contrast to retrospective conditions, in which such judgments are required after the relevant period without any prior warning. In three experiments, an attention-sharing method was used. Subjects were asked to control the amount of attention that they devoted to one or the other component of a dual-task paradigm. The first experiment involved word categorization and reproduction of duration. The following experiments, based on signal detection theory, required discrimination of both the duration and the intensity of a single stimulus, in the visual (Experiment 2) or the auditory (Experiment 3) modality. The results indicate that when the attention is directly controlled by the subject, the subjective duration shortens as the amount of attention devoted to the temporal task diminishes. The implications of these results for the possible existence of an internal timer are considered.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Effect of learning on production of duration in variable motor conditions.

It has been suggested that increasing proprioceptive feedback and ensuring its consistency from trial to trial favours timing accuracy. The progressive acquisition of a timing performance with isometric and anisometric responses was investigated in conditions of 'inconsistent feedback', with two different methods: counting seconds or not. Subjects gripped the handle of a dynamometer during precisely 5 seconds in 4 randomly distributed conditions: 'Weak' or 'Strong' constant force, 'Slow' or 'Rapid' variable force. A first group produced the durations without counting and a second group counted seconds either mentally or aloud. Learning was examined in 4 successive blocks of trials. Average produced durations did not differ as a function of group, but the variability was reduced when subjects counted seconds. In both groups, the constant force conditions induced more accurate responses than the variable force conditions in the first block of trials. 'Slow' and 'Rapid' conditions were respectively associated with overestimation and under-estimation of response duration. These trends diminished progressively with learning. Both groups yielded sequential effects linked to duration and independent of condition. These data suggest that, whether subjects counted or not, learning was not based on condition-specific proprioceptive feedback. It may involve the elaboration of an internal temporal reference common to all conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Visual and auditory event-related potentials elicited by linguistic and non-linguistic incongruities.

To test the hypothesis that violation of overlearned relations between stimuli in a sequence is critical for eliciting the event-related potential (ERP) N400, we recorded scalp ERPs in sequences where interstimulus relations were either overlearned (sentences or famous songs) or not (geometric figures or scale notes): 25% of the sequences ended with an incongruous stimulus. N400 occurred after incongruous words in sentences only. It seems to index the further processing necessary to specify the nature of the mismatch detected between attended and expected stimuli, when complex information is involved. Earlier components also varied as a function of experimental factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Contingent negative variation in processes of expectancy, motor preparation and time estimation.

The contingent Negative Variation (CNV) was compared in four paradigms inducing distinct processes. All paradigms comprised empty intervals of 4 sec bounded by two 100 msec stimuli (S1 and S2) or by S1 and the response (a button press). In paradigm ID (Intensity Discrimination), the S1-S2 interval was followed, after another delay, by a choice response depending on the intensity of S2. In paradigm RT (Reaction Time), the S1-S2 interval was followed by a simple reaction time. In paradigm TP (Time Production), the subjects had to produce a response 4 sec after S1. In paradigm TR (Time Reproduction), the duration of the S1-S2 interval was estimated by the subjects and was to be reproduced after S2. Electrodes were placed on Cz, Fz and Pz in 12 human subjects. The largest CNVs were obtained in paradigm TR. Motor preparation before S2 had no effect on CNV amplitude. Discussion focuses upon the relations between CNV, temporal processes and activation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

An early resolution of contingent negative variation (CNV) in the discrimination.

This study investigates slow potential shifts that occur during a time discrimination task in man. Three experimental series were presented. In series A, each trial included a 5 sec standard interval (SI) followed by a 3 sec SI-TI delay and then by a 4.5, 5.0 or 5.5 sec test interval (TI). The subjects had to estimate whether SI and TI were equal or different and responded by pressing a left or a right button after TI. In series B, the response was postponed after a 3 sec pre-response interval (PRI) succeeding to TI. Series C established an easier discrimination: only 5 or 8 sec TIs were randomly presented in each trial and the subject had to Judge whether he had ben given the "short' or "long' interval. The intervals SI and TI, in which the subject had to collect temporal information, yielded a systematic pattern of slow potential shifts: CNV was followed by an early and prolonged resolution of negativity in the second half of the interval. By contrast, SI-TI delay and PRI only yielded a classical CNV. The "CNV-early resolution' complex appears as a typical feature of temporal tasks. Its possible relation with cognitive processes leading to temporal judgements is discussed, whereas the presence of the only CNV is interpreted as aN indice of expectancy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Evolution of negative and positive SP shifts in cats learning RT tasks.

Cortical slow potential (SP) shifts were recorded in freely moving cats while they learned reaction time tasks differing in the duration of the inter-stimulus interval (ISI). ISI durations were either 6 or 4 sec in experiment I; in experiment II, a reaction time paradigm with a 1 sec ISI was compared to a time estimation task. SP shifts of opposite polarity development throughout the experiments. It seems that: (1) positive SP shifts reflect motor processes and mechanisms of proprioceptive feedback related to the cat's preparatory movements for pressing the lever; (2) negative-going shifts peaking at the end of the ISI reflect temporal information processing related to ISI duration. Analogies with potentials found in man and animals in similar paradigms are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Contingent negative variation and accuracy of time estimation: a study on cats.

Slow cortical potential shifts, similar to the contingent negative variation (CNV) discovered in man, were analysed in cats submitted to a schedule of temporal conditioning. Two situations were compared, according to information delivered during a 7 sec delay: in the first (A), a fixed visual signal appeared on an oscilloscope screen; in the second (B), the signal moved across with time. In both cases, the cat had to press a lever 5-7 sec after signal onset. The CNV recorded during the delay had different amplitudes according to the cortical site involved. It could be dissociated into two components, which showed similar evolutions as a function of experimental conditions. The characteristics of the CNV as a whole varied with temporal parameters. CNV amplitude and time course were related to the accuracy of the cat's responses; prolonged training in unchanged experimental conditions led to a decline in negativity, which seemed to reflect automation of time estimation processes. These data suggest that CNV may be an index of a phase of information processing aimed at constituting internal time bases congruent with a particular situation.

Animals↗