{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,20]],"date-time":"2026-04-20T12:30:18Z","timestamp":1776688218407,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,31]],"date-time":"2022-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1661904000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100012998","name":"University of Rome \u201cForo Italico\u201d","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CDR2.BANDO2020DRF"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CDR2.BANDO2020DRF"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100012998","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Anticipatory event-related potentials (ERPs) precede upcoming events such as stimuli or actions. These ERPs are usually obtained in cued sensory\u2013motor tasks employing a warning stimulus that precedes a probe stimulus as in the contingent negative variation (CNV) paradigms. The CNV wave has been widely studied, from clinical to brain\u2013computer interface (BCI) applications, and has been shown to emerge in medial frontoparietal areas, localized in the cingulate and supplementary motor areas. Several dated studies also suggest the existence of a prefrontal CNV, although this component was not confirmed by later studies due to the contamination of ocular artifacts. Another lesser-known anticipatory ERP is the prefrontal negativity (pN) that precedes the uncued probe stimuli in discriminative response tasks and has been localized in the inferior frontal gyrus. This study aimed to characterize the pN by comparing it with the CNV in cued and uncued tasks and test if the pN could be associated with event preparation, temporal preparation, or both. To achieve these aims, high-density electroencephalographic recording and advanced ERP analysis controlling for ocular activity were obtained in 25 volunteers who performed 4 different visuomotor tasks. Our results showed that the pN amplitude was largest in the condition requiring both time and event preparation, medium in the condition requiring event preparation only, and smallest in the condition requiring temporal preparation only. We concluded that the prefrontal CNV could be associated with the pN, and this activity emerges in complex tasks requiring the anticipation of both the category and timing of the upcoming stimulus. The proposed method can be useful in BCI studies investigating the endogenous neural signatures triggered by different sensorimotor paradigms.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s22176559","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,1]],"date-time":"2022-09-01T03:55:38Z","timestamp":1662004538000},"page":"6559","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["The Dominance of Anticipatory Prefrontal Activity in Uncued Sensory\u2013Motor Tasks"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5715-5802","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Merve","family":"Aydin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome \u201cForo Italico\u201d, 00135 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3815-3841","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anna Laura","family":"Carpenelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of Rome \u201cLa Sapienza\u201d, 00185 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5033-2121","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefania","family":"Lucia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome \u201cForo Italico\u201d, 00135 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3127-9433","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesco","family":"Di Russo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome \u201cForo Italico\u201d, 00135 Rome, Italy"},{"name":"Santa Lucia Foundation IRCCS, 00179 Rome, Italy"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00412364","article-title":"Hirnpotential\u00e4nderungen bei Willk\u00fcrbewegungen und passiven Bewegungen des Menschen: Bereitschaftspotential und reafferente Potentiale [Brainpotential changes during arbitrary and passive movements in humans: Bereitschaftspotential and reafferent potentials]","volume":"284","author":"Kornhuber","year":"1965","journal-title":"Pfl\u00fcgers Archiv"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2341","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clinph.2006.04.025","article-title":"What is the Bereitschaftspotential?","volume":"117","author":"Shibasaki","year":"2006","journal-title":"Clin. 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