@article{BertiVosselGamer2017,
  author    = {Berti, Stefan and Vossel, Gerhard and Gamer, Matthias},
  title     = {The orienting response in healthy aging: Novelty P3 indicates no general decline but reduced efficacy for fast stimulation rates},
  series = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  volume    = {8},
  journal   = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01780},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173651},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Automatic orienting to unexpected changes in the environment is a pre-requisite for adaptive behavior. One prominent mechanism of automatic attentional control is the Orienting Response (OR). Despite the fundamental significance of the OR in everyday life, only little is known about how the OR is affected by healthy aging. We tested this question in two age groups (19-38 and 55-72 years) and measured skin-conductance responses (SCRs) and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to novels (i.e., short environmental sounds presented only once in the experiment; 10\% of the trials) compared to standard sounds (600 Hz sinusoidal tones with 200 ms duration; 90\% of the trials). Novel and standard stimuli were presented in four conditions differing in the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) with a mean ISI of either 10, 3, 1, or 0.5 s (blocked presentation). In both age groups, pronounced SCRs were elicited by novels in the 10 s ISI condition, suggesting the elicitation of stable ORs. These effects were accompanied by pronounced N1 and frontal P3 amplitudes in the ERP, suggesting that automatic novelty processing and orientation of attention are effective in both age groups. Furthermore, the SCR and ERP effects declined with decreasing ISI length. In addition, differences between the two groups were observable with the fastest presentation rates (i.e., 1 and 0.5 s ISI length). The most prominent difference was a shift of the peak of the frontal positivity from around 300 to 200 ms in the 19-38 years group while in the 55-72 years group the amplitude of the frontal P3 decreased linearly with decreasing ISI length. Taken together, this pattern of results does not suggest a general decline in processing efficacy with healthy aging. At least with very rare changes (here, the novels in the 10 s ISI condition) the OR is as effective in healthy older adults as in younger adults. With faster presentation rates, however, the efficacy of the OR decreases. This seems to result in a switch from novelty to deviant processing in younger adults, but less so in the group of older adults.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ErlbeckMochtyKuebleretal.2017,
  author    = {Erlbeck, Helena and Mochty, Ursula and K{\"u}bler, Andrea and Real, Ruben G. L.},
  title     = {Circadian course of the P300 ERP in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - implications for brain-computer interfaces (BCI)},
  series = {BMC Neurology},
  volume    = {17},
  journal   = {BMC Neurology},
  number    = {3},
  doi       = {10.1186/s12883-016-0782-1},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-157423},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Background: Accidents or neurodegenerative diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can lead to progressing, extensive, and complete paralysis leaving patients aware but unable to communicate (locked-in state). Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) based on electroencephalography represent an important approach to establish communication with these patients. The most common BCI for communication rely on the P300, a positive deflection arising in response to rare events. To foster broader application of BCIs for restoring lost function, also for end-users with impaired vision, we explored whether there were specific time windows during the day in which a P300 driven BCI should be preferably applied. Methods: The present study investigated the influence of time of the day and modality (visual vs. auditory) on P300 amplitude and latency. A sample of 14 patients (end-users) with ALS and 14 healthy age matched volunteers participated in the study and P300 event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded at four different times (10, 12 am, 2, \& 4 pm) during the day. Results: Results indicated no differences in P300 amplitudes or latencies between groups (ALS patients v. healthy participants) or time of measurement. In the auditory condition, latencies were shorter and amplitudes smaller as compared to the visual condition. Conclusion: Our findings suggest applicability of EEG/BCI sessions in patients with ALS throughout normal waking hours. Future studies using actual BCI systems are needed to generalize these findings with regard to BCI effectiveness/efficiency and other times of day.},
  language  = {en}
}