Study of contingent negative variation and the post-imperative wave in the presence of interference.

The aim of this investigation was to study ways of inducing prolonged contingent negative variations (CNV) in human subjects. Fourteen subjects underwent the following experimental procedure: 1st day: 2 CNVs in control conditions were recorded (16 successive trials, each with standard S1--S2 paradigm). 2nd day: 5 successive CNVs were recorded:(1) control; (2) labyrinthine stimulation before 1st, 5th, 9th and 13th trials with simple mental calculation performed between S1 and S2, i.e. during CNV; (3) mental calculation only; (4) labyrinthine stimulation only; (5) control. None of the three interference situations caused any significant changes in the mean and maximal CNV amplitudes measured between S1 and S2. On the other hand, the post-imperative part of the CNV was significantly (P less than 0.025) prolonged but only in the situation where 2 types of interference were applied at the same time. This increase disappeared with removal of the double interference. This change, which matches that observed spontaneously and reversibly in certain mental patients in the acute phase of their illness, seems to reflect a transient alteration of the psychophysiological state of the subject. The possibility of inducing these changes in a normal subject could serve as a means of determining the individual threshold of stress.