title: Visuo-spatial processing and the N1 component of the ERP.
abstract: Asymmetries in posterior ERP components, such as the N1, are generally taken to reflect the visual processing of spatial information in absolute (fixation-based) coordinates. Yet, it is also well established that the position of an object can be coded relative to the position of other objects. To examine the ERP correlates of relative spatial coding, two experiments were conducted in which spatially neutral target stimuli were preceded, accompanied, or followed by laterally presented, task-irrelevant accessory stimuli. Targets presented simultaneously with a lateral accessory evoked, despite physical asymmetry, a bilateral, symmetric N1. Targets that followed the accessory evoked, despite physical symmetry, an asymmetric N1, with a maximum contralateral to the accessory N1. Thus, lateralizations in the N1 range already reflect relative spatial coding rather than just the processing of the absolute location of incoming information.
authors.affiliation: IfADo-Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Ardeystrasse 67, Dortmund, Germany. wascher@ifado.de
authors.forename: Edmund
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wascher
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sänger
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grosjean
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004585:Electrooculography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult