Abstract
Escera, C., Alho, K., Schröger, E., & Winkler, I. (2000). Involuntary attention and distractibility as evaluated with event-related brain potentials. Audiology and Neuro-Otology, 5(3-4), 151-166.
Involuntary attention and distractibility as evaluated with event-related brain potentials
This article reviews recent event-related brain potential (ERP) studies of involuntary attention and distractibility in response to novelty and change in the acoustic environment. These studies show that the mismatch negativity, N(1) and P(3a) ERP components elicited by deviant or novel sounds in an unattended sequence of repetitive stimuli index different processes along the course to involuntary attention switch to distracting stimuli. These studies used new auditory-auditory and auditory-visual distraction paradigms, which enable one to assess objectively abnormal distractibility in several clinical patient groups, such as those suffering from closed-head injuries or chronic alcoholism.
Contact
Cognitive and Biological Psychology
University of Leipzig
Faculty of Life Sciences
Institute of Psychology
Neumarkt 9-19
D-04109 Leipzig
Secretariat
Dagmar Schrödl
Phone: +49 341 97-39570
Email: dagmar dot schroedl at uni-leipzig dot de
Fax: +49 341 97-39271