Readiness Potential vs. Lateralized Readiness Potential in ERP

Question

Readiness Potential (RP) has been obviously discovered before Lateralized Readiness Potential (LRP). I wonder, is simple RP still used for something today? Is the LRP preferable over RP because of more precise localization of the effect / component?

Answer 1

The Lateralized Readiness Potential can be considered a later component of a more generalized Readiness Potential, i.e., an LRP would develop out of an RP. As such, RPs can be interesting if you want to determine the earliest point in time at which a movement plan "gets worked on" in the motor cortex.

For reference, I recommend reading these sources and I hope you will be able to find your way around the paywall:

• Predicting Motor Intentions with Closed-Loop Brain-Computer Interfaces

• The point of no return in vetoing self-initiated movements