Figure 2.

The P1 components from this study. Note that numerically the P1 is stronger during periods of low perceptual load (dotted line) than periods of high perceptual load (solid line). This effect is found both for targets as well as irrelevant distractor items. The top row of plots shows ERPs to the target stimuli where the participant was expected to make a gap judgment. The lower row shows ERPs to the irrelevant but salient central distractor stimuli. The horizontal axis shows time, beginning 100 ms prior to stimulus onset and continuing until 500 ms after onset, while the vertical axis shows the voltage (with a range from +5 to −5 μV). The solid line represents the ERP during periods of high perceptual load while the dotted line shows responses during sequences of low perceptual load.