Event-related potentials evoked by passive visuospatial perception in rats and humans reveal common denominators in information processing

In the human cortex, event-related potentials (ERPs) are triggered in response to sensory, cognitive or motor stimuli. Due to the inherent difficulties of conducting invasive mechanistic studies in human subjects, little is known as to the precise neurophysiological mechanisms that lead to their manifestation. By contrast, although much is known about synaptic and neural mechanisms that underlie information processing in rodents, very few studies have addressed to what extent ERPs are comparable in rodents and humans. Here, we explored this by triggering ERPs in both species during the passive observation of visuospatial imagery, shown in an oddball-like manner, using an experimental design that was equivalent. Several ERP-components were identified in the rodent cohort, corresponding, for example, to the human P1, N1, and P2. ERPs that are likely to reflect a rodent N2 and P300 were also detected. Deviance, as well as repetition effects were evident in both species, whereby rodent ERPs displayed more immediate response alterations to repeated stimuli and humans showed more gradual response shifts. These results indicate that humans and rodents may implement similar strategies for the passive perception and initial processing of visuospatial imagery, despite clear differences in their sensory and cognitive capacities.