Slow brain potentials in a visual monitoring task.

The purpose of this study was to analyse slow brain potentials (SPs) during visual monitoring, needed to perform the clock-monitoring task (CMT). This task was successfully applied in behavioural studies, in which attention capabilities were investigated in dependence on individual factors. Clearly pronounced preparatory SPs were observed during the CMT reflecting a high level of preparation and attention, necessary for achieving high performance accuracy. The well-known influence of task repetition on SPs and the relation between SP and behaviour were confirmed. The practicability of the CMT, the clear and easily detectable SP components and the sensitivity of the present approach makes it recommendable for further applications, e.g. for the evaluation of the effects of occupational/environmental exposures on processes of information processing.