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Cited by 792Free Will and AgencyNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesEEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces

Modern mind-brain reading: Psychophysiology, physiology, and cognition

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Coles, Michael G. H.·1989·Psychophysiology
DOI 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1989.tb01916.x
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Abstract

This paper reviews the actual and potential benefits of a marriage between cognitive psychology and psychophysiology. Psychophysiological measures, particularly those of the event‐related brain potential, can be used as markers for psychological events and physiological events. Thus, they can serve as “windows’ on the mind and as “windows’ on the brain. These ideas are illustrated in the context of a series of studies utilizing the lateralized readiness potential, a measure of electrical brain activity that is related to preparation for movement. This measure has been used to illuminate presetting processes that prepare the motor system for action, to demonstrate the presence of the transmission of partial information in the cognitive system, and to identify processes responsible for the inhibition of responses. The lateralized readiness potential appears to reflect activity in motor areas of cortex. Thus, this measure, along with other psychophysiological measures, can be used to understand how the functions of the mind are implemented in the brain potential.

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  • Response preparation is not a discrete endpoint of cognition, but a continuous process through which partial perceptual and decisional information is progressively transmitted to the motor system.

    “Mechanistically, this finding fits with models in which response preparation is not a discrete endpoint of cognition, but a continuous process through which partial perceptual and decisional information is progressively transmitted to the motor system [143,144,145].”

    From Electrophysiological Correlates of Cognitive Dysfunction in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): A Systematic and Mechanistic Review of EEG, ERP, and QEEG Evidence (2026) · cites this paper as [143]

    In “Early Communication” (p. 9), the paper examines whether partial stimulus information primes a response before processing is complete. Its discussion of the results (p. 11) says information reaches the response system as stimulus evaluation progresses, but explicitly cautions that the data do not prove communication is continuous; they show at least two phases rather than an all-or-none transfer. The claim overstates that evidence by presenting continuity as established. (LLM, conf=0.89)

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  • The LRP is generally interpreted as an electrophysiological marker of lateralised central motor activation, reflecting the preferential preparation of the response hand before or around response execution.

    “The LRP is generally interpreted as an electrophysiological marker of lateralised central motor activation, reflecting the preferential preparation of the response hand before or around response execution [143,144,145,146].”

    From Electrophysiological Correlates of Cognitive Dysfunction in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): A Systematic and Mechanistic Review of EEG, ERP, and QEEG Evidence (2026) · cites this paper as [143]

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 18

  1. Arezzo, J., & Vaughan, H.G. (1980). Cortical sources and topography of the motor potential and the somatosensory evoked potential in the monkey. In H.H. Kornhuber & L. Deecke (Eds.), Motivation, motor and sensory processes of the brain. Progress in brain research, Volume 54 (pp. 77–83). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  2. Beatty, J., Barth, D.S., Richer, F., & Johnson, R.A. (1986). Neuromagnetometry. In M.G.H. Coles, E. Donchin, & S.W. Porges (Eds.), Psychophysiology: Systems, processes, and applications (pp. 26–40). New York: Guilford Press.
  3. De Jong, R., Wierda, M., Mulder, G., & Mulder, L.J.M. (1988). Use of partial information in responding. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 14, 682–692.
  4. Donders, F.C. (1868/1969). On the speed of mental processes (W.G. Koster, Trans.). In W.G. Koster (Ed.), Attention and performance II (pp. 412-431). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
  5. 14698986, 1989, 3, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1989.tb01916.x, Wiley Online Library on [17/08/2026]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License and response priming. Manuscript submitted for publication.
  6. Hillyard, S.A., & Hansen, J.C. (1986). Attention: Electrophysiological approaches. In M.G.H. Coles, E. Donchin, & S.W. Porges (Eds.), Psychophysiology: Systems, processes, and applications (pp. 227–243). New York: Guilford Press.
  7. Hockey, G.R.J., Gaillard, A.W.K., & Coles, M.G.H. (Eds.) (1986). Energetics and human information processing. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.
  8. Jennings, J.R. (1986a). Bodily changes during attending. In M.G.H. Coles, E. Donchin, & S.W. Porges (Eds.), Psychophysiology: Systems, processes, and applications (pp. 268–289). New York: Guilford Press.
  9. Jennings, J.R. (1986b). Memory, thought, and bodily response. In M.G.H. Coles, E. Donchin, & S.W. Porges (Eds.), Psychophysiology: Systems, processes, and applications (pp. 290–308). New York: Guilford Press.
  10. Kornhuber, H.H., & Deecke, L. (1965). Hirnpotentialanderungen bei Willkurbewegungen und passiven Bewegungen des Menschen: Bereitschaftpotential und reaffarente Potentiale. Pflugers Archiv, 284, 1–17. guage. In P.K. Ackles, J.R. Jennings, & M.G.H. Coles (Eds.), Advances in psychophysiology (Vol. 3, pp. 139– 187). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
  11. Luce, R.D. (1986). Response times. New York: Oxford University Press.
  12. Näätänen, R. (1982). Processing negativity: An evokedpotential reflection of selective attention. Psychological Bulletin, 92, 605–640.
  13. 14698986, 1989, 3, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1989.tb01916.x, Wiley Online Library on [17/08/2026]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
  14. Rumelhart, D.E., & McClelland, J.L. (1986). Parallel distributed processes. Vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  15. Townsend, J.T. (1974). Issues and models concerning the processing of a finite number of inputs. In B.H. Kantowitz (Ed.), Human information processing: Tutorials in performance and cognition (pp. 133–185). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
  16. Wood, C.C., Allison, T., Goff, W.R., Williamson, P.D., & Spencer, D.D. (1980). On the neural origin of the P300 in man. In H.H. Kornhuber & L. Deecke (Eds.), Motivation, motor and sensory processes of the brain. Progress in brain research, Volume 54 (pp. 51-56). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  17. 14698986, 1989, 3, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1989.tb01916.x, Wiley Online Library on [17/08/2026]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License This document is a scanned copy of a printed document. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material.
  18. 14698986, 1989, 3, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8986.1989.tb01916.x, Wiley Online Library on [17/08/2026]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License

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Authors
Coles, M. G. H.
Affiliations
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
Corresponding author
Coles, Michael G. H.
Venue
Psychophysiology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
1989-05
Volume
26
Issue
3
Pages
251-269
ISSN
  • 0048-5772 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-8986
DOI
10.1111/j.1469-8986.1989.tb01916.x
OpenAlex
W2077616447
Cited by
792
References
77
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 25
FWCI
1.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 6483 d)
Locations
  • Psychophysiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (MH41445)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Free Will and Agency
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › EEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces
Keywords
event-related potentials, readiness potential, motor preparation, cognitive psychology, response inhibition, information transmission, motor cortex, mind-brain relationship
MeSH terms
Arousal, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cognition, Dominance, Cerebral, Evoked Potentials, Humans, Psychophysiology

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