EVENT -RELATED POTENTIAL (ERP) SIGNALS ANALYSIS

• Main Author: RAJA KHAIRUDDIN, RAJA NUR HAMIZAH
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS 2011
• Subjects: TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/10457/1/2011%20-%20Event-Related%20Potential%20%28ERP%29%20Signals%20Analysis.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/10457/
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Petronas

The Event-Related Potential (ERP) components, PlOO and P300 are thought to reflect visual and cognitive information processing, respectively. Recent studies suggested that these ERPs are influenced by natural or environmentally induced variables. The present study investigated the efficiency of visual and cognitive information processing over time and also the effect of caffeine intake on both visual and cognitive functions. The sample consisting of ten healthy individuals (five female and five male), was submitted to a visual discrimination task (oddball paradigm) at three different times (i.e., morning, afternoon and evening) within the same day. Also, subjects were required to undergo the same visual test after the administration of caffeine (65 mg). The main components of interest; PIOO and P300 are studied and analyzed based on two variables used to quantity the components: latency and amplitude. Results suggest that visual and cognitive efficiency degrade over time (as observed by an increase in latency and a decrease in amplitude in most subjects). After the caffeine administration, the visual and cognitive efficiency for most subjects seemed to improve (a decrease in latency while an increase in amplitude). However, the caffeine effect was more prominent in a fatigue condition compared to well-rest condition. Though partially confirmed the hypotheses, this study provides evidences for the time-of-day and caffeine effects on both visual and cognitive processing efficiency as proposed in the current literature.