Reliability of P50 auditory event-related potential indices of sensory gating.
We examined the reliability of three traditional P50 auditory event-related potential indices under paired-click conditions: (a) the conditioning response (C), (b) the testing response (T), and (c) the testing to conditioning suppression ratio (T/C). Three alternative indices, (a) the (C - T) difference, (b) the (C - T)/(C + T) adjusted difference, and (c) the (T - T') residualized difference, where T' is the regression of T on C, were also studied. The N100 wave was used as a generalizability check. Although C and T amplitudes were reliably measured by traditional means, the T/C suppression ratio was not. For psychometric reasons that are described, the reliability of the suppression ratio is undermined principally by the correlation between C and T. The C - T difference score is a promising alternative to the unreliable T/C suppression ratio. Theoretical consequences of changed metrics are discussed.
Smith
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Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210-1222.
Boutros
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Schwarzkopf
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D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011603:Psychophysiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results