Laboratory of cognitive psychophysiology head B. V. Chernyshev

Psychophysiology is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes.

Psychophysiology is also the branch of neuroscience and it relies on modern techniques of studying the brain.

Cognitio ( latin ) — knowledge, acquaintance, consideration, conception, notion, idea Cognitive — i.e. related to information acquisition, storage, retrieval, processing etc. in the mind and brain.

Among cognitive processes we study are: attention, perception, conscious awareness, cognitive control, language, etc.

We assume that the greater part of real-time cognitive processing is achieved automatically, preattentively, preconsciously – much faster than consciousness can follow the events of the fast external world.

We are so different, and this is largely a consequence of differences in brain structure and functioning.

Topics that we study

Why are we often not aware of things that seem easy to notice? Why do we commit errors even when we exactly know what should have been done?

Topic: Spontaneous attentional lapses and cognitive control Methods: - ERPs (P2, MMN etc.) - EEG oscillations (theta rhythm and alpha rhythm) Questions: what makes us commit errors when we exactly know what to do but fail to do so? Theoretical framework: - competition for attention with other processes, particularly “mind- wandering” (“task-unrelated thoughts”) = “default mode network” activation - cognitive control - arousal level

The correct response can be made based on simultaneous analysis of two independent features: pitch and noisiness (feature binding). At least four sounds are used. HighLow PureLeft buttonRight button NoisedRight buttonLeft button

ERP grand mean for correct and erroneous responses. (N = 52, F(1, 51) = , p <.0001)

The experimental paradigm has already been applied to frontal patients (in cooperation with Burdenko institute of neurosurgery) – in terms of lowered cognitive control. More patients will be recorded this year.

What happens when our mind wanders, and we become distracted from reality?

Topic: Mind-wandering Methods: - ERPs - Eye tracking - Questionnaires Questions: Are spontaneous attentional lapses related to mind- wandering? Do there exist precursors of this state? What are individual differences in relation of mind-wandering? Theoretical framework: - Mind wandering competes for resources as an active task – or it may be passive state that happens due to deterioration of cognitive control? - Activation of the Default Mode Network (resting state) - Correlation with personality traits such as introversion, anxiety etc.

How the information can be suppressed within sensory perception?

Topic: Attending versus Ignoring: two sides of the same coin? Methods: - ERPs (MMN, rejection positivity) Questions: How we ignore the stimuli we do not wand to perceive? Is ignoring the stimuli a reverse effect of the lack of attention – or is it a process independent of attention per se? How do these processes depend upon experimental conditions and individual traits? Theoretical framework: - Attention evokes mismatch negativity (MMN) - Inattention evokes rejection positivity (RP) - arousal level

How can we direct our actions by taking into account combinations of stimulus features? Is attention needed for that?

Topic: Feature binding (feature integration) Methods: - ERPs (MMN, P3 etc.) Questions: is perception of multidimensional features automatic or dependent upon conscious control? Theoretical framework: - a two-level structure is probably involved, with lower automatic preattentional level being obligatory. This level may be linked by both bottom-up and top-down influences with conscious voluntary attention

Feature binding will be studied - within auditory modality: pitch, timbre, location, loudness, etc. - within visual modality: color, orientation, contrast, line thickness, etc. - between auditory and visual modality

How do we instantaneously perceive word meaning? How do we learn word meaning?

Topic: Ultrarapid learning of word meaning (in cooperation with Tatiana Stroganova, MEG-centre MSUPE, and Yury Shtyrov) Methods: - MEG (distributed source estimation) Questions: is meaning of newly learnt words processed in the brain in the same fast automatic way it deals with real words of a language? Theoretical framework: - a recently found feature of automatic word meaning processing is that words evoke a very early distributed activation, spreading to relevant brain representations of the meaning. - “embodied cognition” (“grounded cognition”) – a recent theoretical framework according to which brain representations of words and abstract notions reside on evolutionary older biological somatic representation.

Action-words are known to induce very early somatotopic activation related to meaning of the words (Hauk and Pulvermuller, 2004)

During the experiments eight pseudowords are used. Four pseudowords are to be assigned meaning as action-words through associative trial-and-error learning, and four words are used as controls.

How do we instantaneously perceive Gestalts?

Topic: Perception of Gestalt (Kanizsa illusion) (in cooperation with Tatiana Stroganova, MEG-centre MSUPE) Methods: - MEG (distributed source estimation) Questions: do early low-level processes in the primary visual cortex relate to holistic perception? Theoretical framework: - a recently found feature of the primary visual cortex functioning – surround suppression – may be the first important stage in grasping the whole figure.

Difference between responses to the small Kanizsa stimulus and the control stimulus in source space (left hemisphere). Negative values point to the inverted IC effect. Shown are timeframes at 5 ms step: upper row – ms, middle row – ms, bottom row – ms. Scale: nA

Timecourses of brain activity in source space (small stimuli, left hemisphere)

Further analysis will be carried out for synchronized gamma-rhythm, including connectivity measures

And some photos…

MCS NVX52

BrainVision actiCHamp