Alcohol Impairs the Cognitive Component of Reaction Time to an Omitted Stimulus: A Replication and an Extension*

The Omitted Stimulus Potential Is Related to the Cognitive Component of Reaction Time

“…The participant was to respond immediately when the first stimulus was omitted. This task is similar to the omitted auditory stimulus task used in prior research (e.g., Hernández et al, 2007) but included electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings while the task was performed.…”

“…Research on human cognition and behavior has used an Omitted Stimulus reaction time (RT) task in which total RT is partitioned into two independent components (e.g., Hernández et al, 2005Hernández et al, , 2007. The RT of the initial component reflects the duration of cognitive processes such as perception, information processing, and response selection.…”

“…Research has shown the premotor RT to the presentation of a stimulus and to the omission of a stimulus in a train of recurring stimuli is characteristically longer than motor RT (e.g., Botwinick & Thompson, 1966;Hernández et al, 2005). Comparisons of these component RT measures when the frequency of stimuli in a train is fast (7 Hz) or slow (.5 Hz) show that a fast stimulus frequency results in shorter premotor RT than a slow frequency (Hernández et al, 2007). The longer premotor RT to the omission of a stimulus occurring with a slow frequency could be considered to indicate that more cognitive processing is required to perceive long inter-stimulus intervals, process the information, judge whether a stimulus is missing, and decide to respond.…”

“…However, the influence of cognitive processes might still be reflected by the time between OSP onset and the occurrence of the EMG. Premotor RT is considered to represent the duration of cognitive processes, and research on the Omitted Stimulus task shows longer premotor RT with slow frequency stimuli than with fast frequency stimuli (Hernández et al, 2007). Thus, if cognitive processes contribute to the OSP, the delay between the onset of the OSP and the EMG should correlate with premotor RT, and the delay should be longer under slow, than under fast frequency stimuli.…”

Alcohol Effects on the P2 component of Auditory Evoked Potentials

“…This scale has been used in previous alcohol research to assess the credibility of a placebo (e.g., Fillmore and VogelSprott 1997, Hernández et al 2007, Hernández and Vogel-Sprott 2010a. Participants were asked to rate the alcohol content of their beverages in terms of standard sized drinks of distilled spirits or bottles of 5% alcohol beer.…”