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The Bereitschaftspotential pp 229–248Cite as

The Lateralized Readiness Potential

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Abstract

The pioneering work of Kornhuber and Deecke on the Bereitschaftspotential (Kornhuber & Deecke, 1965) suggested that movement-related brain activity could be recorded from the scalps of human subjects. Not only did this open up the possibility of studying brain-movement relationships using non-invasive procedures, it also pointed to a method by which measures of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) could be used to study cognitive processes. The benefits of the discovery of the Bereitschaftspotential for the analysis of cognitive function were not perhaps as obvious as those that related to the discovery of other ERP components during the 1960s, such as the P300 (Sutton, Braren, Zubin, & John, 1965) and the CNV (Walter, Cooper, Aldridge, McCallum, & Winter, 1964). Nevertheless, it has become clear in the last 35 years that the impact of its discovery has been just as profound. This is because knowledge of covert movement-related processes has proved to be extraordinarily important in exploring human cognitive function.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, England

    Martin Eimer

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, USA

    Michael G. H. Coles

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  1. Martin Eimer
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience & Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK

    Marjan Jahanshahi

  2. Human Motor Control Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Mark Hallett

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Eimer, M., Coles, M.G.H. (2003). The Lateralized Readiness Potential. In: Jahanshahi, M., Hallett, M. (eds) The Bereitschaftspotential. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0189-3_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0189-3_14

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