title: An ERP study of cognitive architecture and the insertion of mental processes: Donders revisited.
abstract: In his seminal paper, Donders proposed that Choice reaction time (RT) tasks differ from Go/No-go RT tasks only by the insertion of a response decision operation. We evaluated this possibility by comparing the time course of Laplacian-transformed ERPs, recorded over the primary (M1s) and supplementary motor areas (SMAs) in a Choice and in a Go/No-go task. Laplacian-transformed ERPs showed that a component that develops over the SMAs during the RT of Choice tasks vanishes in our Go/No-go task. This indicates that a process, absent in the Go/No-go task, was "inserted" in the Choice task. The Choice versus Go/No-go manipulation also modified the motor command: the activity recorded over M1s and the delay separating EMG onset from response completion depended on the nature of the task. This indicates that, although a process was inserted in the Choice task, it was not "purely" inserted, contrary to Donders' initial assumption.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurobiologie de la Cognition, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, Marseille, France. franck.vidal@univ-provence.fr
authors.forename: Franck
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vidal
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Burle
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grapperon
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasbroucq
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*