Target-elicited ERPs in car/person target conditions. In the stylized stimulus examples here and in Figure 7, the reward-associated category is cars, but this was counterbalanced across participants in the actual experiment. Here and in Figure 7, negative voltage is plotted upward by convention and the ERPs reflect mean signal observed at the lateral electrode clusters identified by large marker in the topographic maps in Figure 7. A, The posterior lateral ERPs elicited by a scene containing a peripheral neutral target. The N2pc is apparent as the difference between contralateral and ipsilateral waveforms beginning at ∼200 ms after stimulus. B, The ERPs elicited by a scene containing a peripheral reward-associated target. C, The ERPs elicited by a scene containing a peripheral neutral target when a task-irrelevant example of the reward-associated category is present in the center of the scene. D, The ERPs elicited by a scene containing a peripheral reward-associated target when a task-irrelevant example of the neutral target category is present in the center of the scene. E, Contralateral-minus-ipsilateral difference waves for the ERPs illustrated in A, B. The N2pc is reflected in negative deflection of the difference wave and does not reliably differ as a function of target reward association. F, Difference waves for the ERPs illustrated in C, D. As in E, the N2pc does not reliably differ as a function of target reward association.