ABSTRACT
Some brain potentials (e.g. EEG, the spontaneous brain wave; and ERP, the event-related brain potential) can be measured from electrodes placed on the scalp. ERP is a sequence of electrical changes elicited by sensory or perceptual stimuli, and cognitive events. The ERP technology has some advantages, such as questionnaire and performance indices, compared with other psychological methods. The ERP changes can be measured objectively, quantitatively, in real time, and temporally. The potentials to an unconscious (subliminally) stimulus and to an ignored stimulus can be measured in the study of attention. The aim of research on ERP in ergonomics is classified into two categories: first, basic laboratory studies on the nature of ERP in relation to human information processing, and second, studies directed at application to field settings. Studies applying to the assessment of environment and mental workload in ergonomics have been conducted. During an earlier period (the latter half of the 1960s) in the history of ERP, the potential was called the evoked potential (EP) or the evoked response, because the potential was recognized as being evoked by sensory stimuli. However, since similar potentials are elicited not only by sensory stimuli, but also by such subjective events, such as attention, decision-making and language process, and by voluntary movement, the potential is now referred to as ERP.
