| Description |
While cognitive ability is reliably shown to promote performance in chronometric tasks, it is still unclear what the neural mechanisms of these improvements are. This study examined individual differences in anticipatory processes as a mechanism to reduce uncertainty surrounding the temporal onset of stimuli in the Hick paradigm. Multilevel modeling was used to investigate behavioral (decision time; DT) and putative anticipatory processes (the contingent negative variation; CNV, and the alpha oscillation) in relation to individual differences in visuospatial reasoning (n = 92). Higher ability conferred faster DT on average, but this relationship was not moderated by temporal or target uncertainty (i.e., the number of response options). In contrast, while temporal uncertainty impeded the amplitude of the CNV and alpha oscillation for lower ability people, higher ability people were more resilient to these effects. The CNV showed a similar effect for target uncertainty. Single-trial analyses of DT and EEG measures revealed that while the CNV, alpha oscillation, and P2 event-related potential all uniquely predicted DT, the CNV predicted DT more strongly at higher ability levels. Furthermore, the prestimulus anticipatory processes (CNV/alpha) interacted with the P2, suggesting that effective anticipation can coordinate poststimulus processing to facilitate task performance, though this effect was unrelated to ability. Collectively, these findings emphasize top-down anticipatory processes as a likely neural mechanism of chronometric performance, as well as a resilience to uncertainty as a key feature of cognitive ability. |
