Evoked potential habituation rate and sensory pattern preference as determined by stimulus information.

Abstract

The relationship of evoked potential amplitude to the motivational properties of different stimuli was investigated. Using light reinforcement in monkeys, differential preferences over total darkness were established for 3 sequences of light flashes, differing only in interstimulus interval. Habituation rates for evoked potential amplitudes recorded from chronically implanted electrodes were related to preferences. Evoked responses to flashes produced by the animal''s themselves and regularly presented stimuli showed rapid habituation, while randomly presented flashes produced no habituation. Results are discussed in terms of the informational properties of the stimulus patterns and related to other studies of electrophysiological changes in learning and motivation on the basis of an expectancy-uncertainty hypo-thesis.