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Paper: PS-1A.66
Session: Poster Session 1A
Location: H Lichthof
Session Time: Saturday, September 14, 16:30 - 19:30
Presentation Time:Saturday, September 14, 16:30 - 19:30
Presentation: Poster
Publication: 2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience, 13-16 September 2019, Berlin, Germany
Paper Title: Temporal Pattern Models for Physiological Arousal During a Steering Task
Manuscript:  Click here to view manuscript
License: Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32470/CCN.2019.1249-0
Authors: Tuisku Tammi, Noora Lehtonen, Benjamin Ultan Cowley, University of Helsinki, Finland
Abstract: Physiological arousal can be a signal of attention, reflecting predictability and significance of stimuli or events. We explored temporal patterns in task-related physiological arousal and their connection to performance in repeated trials of a visuomotor steering task. Participants (N = 9) played a total of forty trials of a high-speed steering task in eight sessions over a period of 2-3 weeks. Temporal changes in electrodermal activity during task performance were modelled as habituation, and connections between performance, perceived importance and individual differences in habituation rate were examined. Additionally, within-subject changes in habituation were compared to deviations from predicted performance. We found that sustained task-related arousal (slow habituation) was connected to better performance both between groups and within participants. Slow habituation was also related to higher subjective reports of perceived importance. Taken together, these results suggest that temporal changes in task-related arousal during learning are related to the processing of task-relevant cues and may reflect motivational states that direct selective attention.