Master of Arts, Miami University, 2014, Psychology

Two experiments used the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) to establish a neurological basis for response competition between decisions involving subjective preferences. Affectively-valenced pictures and monetary gambles were used as stimuli in binary decision tasks in Experiment 1 and 2, respectively. The results of Experiment 1 provide evidence that the LRP is capable of measuring preparatory motor activity underlying the dynamic accumulation of subjective preference in the premotor cortex. The experiment revealed that there was more response competition that occurred when participants chose between stimuli with greater similarity as seen by a reduced amplitude LRP as well as a Gratton dip preceding the decision response. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not see increased response competition when participants chose the riskier gamble. Future directions and proposals for improved methodology of Experiment 2 are discussed.

Committee: Joseph Johnson PhD (Committee Chair); Robin Thomas PhD (Committee Member); Christopher Wolfe PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology