Reactivity and event-related potentials in attentional tests: effect of training

To study the effects of training on reactivity and event-related potentials a complex attentional shifting test involving reaction time was administered (Test 1) to 24 healthy, young students. After five days, 12 subjects were tested with the same procedure (Test 2) without training (Untrained Subjects) while 12 repeated the test at the fifth day after four days of training (Trained Subjects). During Tests 1 and 2, event-related potentials were recorded by electroencephalogram. The task consisted of each subject responding to a stimulus of a letter appearing in the centre of a geometric figure on the screen of a computer monitor. In the prestimulus period black points were drawn and crowded randomly into a zone of the screen. The geometric figure and the letter were shown in the centre of the crowding. There were two letters and four geometric figures randomly combined in different ways. The subject had to press different keys of the computer keyboard when specific combinations appeared. The averaged event-related potentials were characterized by a negative wave with a close relationship to selective attention before the onset of the stimulus of a geometric figure followed by letters. After the stimulus onset, a P3 complex was recorded. Trained subjects were no different from untrained subjects in Test 1, while in Test 2 they had a shorter reaction time, an earlier peak of the selective attention related wave and P3, and a higher amplitude for the P3 complex. These measures and the correlations between them can be considered an index of the training effect. Thus, these tests could be used for evaluation of the attentional style and its modification with training.