Aim: High levels of cooperation are formed in societies where people who violate certain norms are punished by the punitive behavior of others. The aim of the present study was to discriminate the types of reactions of individuals to unfair offers and to study their electrophysiological components. method: 40 male students of Shahid Beheshti University participated in this study through available sampling and their reaction in the modified form of dictator and ultimatum games was measured and evaluated. Findings: Behavioral findings showed most participants did not accept unfair offers and behaved equally unfairly in DG. The results of the hierarchical clustering analysis showed that groups are divided into four groups based on fair-unfair continuity in both games. The behavior of the first group was in the form of pure altruistic punishment and the other groups included a kind of selfishness and behavioral inconsistency. Electrophysiological data showed that in the first group, the FRN and P300 amplitude were lower than in the other groups. Conclusion: This study deepens our understanding of the foundation of justice as a moral construct by respondents and allows us to assess the processes that exist specifically to evaluate fair and unfair proposals. as far as we know, this study is the first to show the difference between neural data based on EVENT RELATED POTENTIAL, arising from altruistic punishment, and other forms of punishment, and provide important practical implications for the evolution of collaboration.

There are three primary models to deal with literal/non-literal language processing. The first is the indirect access model proposed by Grice (1975) and Searle (1979). As indicated by this model, sentences are first processed literally when the literal meaning was not the adequate interpretation; at that point the look for the metaphorical interpretation begins. The second is the direct access model proposed by Glucksberg et al. (1982). As indicated by this model, metaphors are processed as easily as literal sentences. Their findings demonstrated that there is no contrast between the processing of literal sentences and metaphor. The third is a continual processing model, for example, “ The contemporary theory of metaphor” , Lakoff (1993); “ the Gradient Salience Model” , Giora (1997, 2003) and “ the Career of Metaphor Model” , Bowdel and Gentner (2005). In these models, literal sentences and conventional metaphors are processed in the same way. Lakoff (1993) believes that the meaning of literal sentences and conventional metaphors are accessed at the same time since they both are retrieved from memory. But Giora (1997, 2003) believes that the reason for this simultaneous processing is that conventional metaphors are as salient as literal sentences. Novel metaphors are processed more slowly than literal sentences and conventional metaphors. Their processing includes more cognitive efforts. Lakoff (1993) asserts that this slower processing of novel metaphors is due to the comparison and the conceptual mapping of the source domain on the target domain (online processing compared with retrieving from memory). Bowdel and Gentner (2005) believe that novel metaphors are processed as “ analogy” , but conventional metaphors are processed as “ categorization” . However, Giora (1997, 2003) considers the non-saliency as the main cause of this slower processing. Behavioral researches have mainly focused on the reaction time of subjects during the processing of metaphors. The improvement of brain imaging technologies in recent decades has motivated researchers to use techniques such as ERP, PET, and fMRI, to study the processing of non-literal language including metaphors. Kutas, Federmeyer, Coulson, King, and Munte (2000) state that techniques with high temporal resolution, for example, ERPs and eye tracking, can help revealing how language processing unfolds over time. They can be used to track the availability of different sorts of linguistic information and the temporal course of their interactions. Since 1980, many researches, including Pynte, Besson, Robichon and Poli (1996), Tarrter, Gomes, Dubrovsky, Molholm, and Stewart (2002), Coulson, and van Petten (2002), Iakimova, Passerieux, Laurent and Hardy-Bayle (2005), Arzoan, Goldstein, and Faust (2007), Lai, Menn, and Curran (2009), Lai and Curran (2013) have used ERP and N400 to study metaphor processing. This research, using EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL technique, studies the processing of literal and metaphorical sentences in Farsi and the role of conceptual mapping in this process. We anticipate literal sentences and conventional metaphors to be processed at a similar speed, but conventional metaphors are processed quicker than novel metaphors. In other words, more cognitive effort happen during the processing of novel metaphors. We also expect that conceptual mapping to occur during the conventional and novel metaphors in different ways. Four hundred sentences (literal, conventional metaphor, novel metaphor and anomalous) were made, then these sentences were designed by Psycopy software to be displayed on the computer screen. The brain electrical signals of 22 participants, were recorded during the reading task by a 64 channels EEG set made by Ant company and ASA lab software. The sample rate was 512 Hz, and the electrodes were arranged based on the 10-20 system. The signals were recorded from 32 electrodes. Using EEGLAB and ERPLAB, the mean amplitude of N400 in 7 areas including midline channels (Fpz, Fz, Cz, Pz, Oz), left medial channels (FC1, CP1, C3), right medial channels (CP2, C4, FC2), left lateral channels (CP5, F3, P3, FC5), right lateral channels (CP6, P4, F4, FC6), left peripheral channels (Fp1, F7, T7, O1) and right peripheral channels (Fp2, F8, T8, O2) were extracted. The data were analyzed by repeated measure (ANOVA) and pair-wise comparison (SPSS). The repeated measure analysis (ANOVA) showed that mean amplitude of four conditions: literal, conventional metaphors, novel metaphors and anomalous sentences in the midline, left and right medial and right peripheral were significantly different. Pair-wise comparison of the amplitude of 400 in 7 areas did not show any significant differences between literal sentences and conventional metaphors, but the pair-wise comparison of the mean amplitude of N400 in left medial channels showed a significant difference between conventional metaphors and novel metaphors processing. The Findings of this research showed that the processing of literal language and conventional metaphors take the same speed and cognitive effort. However, the processing of novel metaphors need more cognitive efforts, which can be considered as an evidence of conceptual mapping. Our findings are consistent with this premise that conceptual mapping in novel metaphors occurs through analogy and in conventional metaphors it happens through categorization.

The purpose of this study was to design and evaluate a target stimulus detector based on detecting P300 component. First, a suitable experiment was designed base on the oddball paradigm, so that a P300 wave is generated when subjects were confronted with Target stimulus. 20 subjects went through the designed paradigm and their respective brain signals were recorded. The best detection method was selected through the implementation and evaluation of some' proposed approaches on the recorded data. For the main processing block, which analyses the signal and makes a decision regarding the target or non-target stimuli for each subject, the proposed classifiers were LDA (linear Discriminant analysis) and decision tree. Also the optimal feature set was selected using a genetic algorithm method from a primary feature set including Mode frequency, Mean frequency, Median frequency, Discrete Wavelet transform coefficients and some Morphologic Parameters. Finally, the LDA was found as the best classifier. The final rate of correct detection of targets was 95% in the Loo (Leave One Out) method. Also the rates of correct classification of single trials were 71% for train data and 70% for test data. The best result was obtained using 18 selected features and the LDA classifier.

Dear Editor, The EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL (ERP) technique, having a millisecond temporal resolution, is appropriately suited for the precise measurement of the electrical activities in the brain that are a direct result of cognitive processes. While a number of ERP investigations on episodic memory formation have been conducted in schizophrenia, they have tended to focusonthe aspect of retrieval mechanisms (1, 2). There is only 1 ERP study, to the best of myknowledge, that examined episodic encoding. ....

Background and Aim: The involvement of central auditory nervous system is relatively prevalent in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). To understand cortex function and to investigate cognitive impairment, EVENT RELATED POTENTIAL is considered as a valuable tool. This study was aimed to compare the amplitude and latency of the EVENT RELATED POTENTIALs of P300 in MS patients and normal individuals.Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted on 21 MS patients and 27 normal cases aged 18-50 years. Auditory P300 was recorded with oddball paradigm, using two tone burst stimuli (1000 and 2000).Results: In MS patients, mean latencies were significantly longer (p<0.001) and mean amplitude were significantly lower (p<0.001), in both males and females. Sex did not affect P300 latencies and amplitudes significantly.Conclusion: MS patients show some degree of EVENT RELATED POTENTIAL abnormalities. Combination of auditory P300 and neuropsychological tests may be useful to investigate cognitive impairment in MS patients.

Background and Aim: Following an early visual deprivation, the neural network involved in processing auditory spatial information undergoes a profound reorganization. In order to investigate this process, EVENT - RELATED POTENTIALs provide accurate information about time course neural activation as well as perception and cognitive processes. In this study, the latency and amplitude of auditory P300 were compared in sighted and early blind individuals in age range of 18-25 years old.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, auditory P300 POTENTIAL was measured in conventional oddball paradigm by using two tone burst stimuli (1000 and 2000 Hz) on 40 sighted subjects and 19 early blind subjects with mean age 20.94 years old.Results: The mean latency of P300 in early blind subjects was significantly smaller than sighted subjects (p=0.00). There was no significant difference in amplitude between two groups (p>0.05).Conclusion: Reduced latency of P300 in early blind subjects in comparison to sighted subjects probably indicates the rate of automatic processing and information categorization is faster in early blind subjects because of sensory compensation. It seems that neural plasticity increases the rate of auditory processing and attention in early blind subjects.