Task related changes in ERP auditory vs visual tasks.

ABSTRACT

P3 component of event related potentials have been studied in relaxed state of mind. Changes in P3 latency and amplitude are expected if measured after a rigorous mental exercise. The event related potentials (ERP) were measured in 20 normal male subjects aged between 18 and 22 years. ERP was recorded twice in each subject before and after the administration of a mental task. The auditory mental task comprised of repeating in reverse order string of random digits read out to the subject at a uniform speed of 1 per second. The visual task comprised reading laterally inverted type written text. Each subject had to undergo 2 sessions in separate sittings. The latency and amplitude of P300 recorded before and after the task were compared statistically using Students' unpaired t-test. There was significant increase in P3 latency following both visual and auditory tasks (auditory task before 330 +/- 24.43 msec and after 342.9 +/- 27.66 msec, similarly visual task before 333.2 +/- 26.66 msec and after 345.65 +/- 26.56 msec). All other ERP waves latency and amplitude changes were insignificant.