Neural correlates of auditory distraction revealed in theta-band EEG

Abstract

Selective attention involves the exclusion of irrelevant information in order to optimize perception of a single source of sensory input; failure to do so often results in the familiar phenomenon of distraction. The term 'distraction' broadly refers to a perceptual phenomenon. In the present study we attempted to find the electrophysiological correlates of distraction using an auditory discrimination task. EEG and event-related potential responses to identical stimuli were compared under two levels of distraction (continuous broad-band noise or continuous speech). Relative to broad-band noise, the presence of a continuous speech signal in the unattended ear impaired task performance and also attenuated the N1 peak evoked by nontarget stimuli in the attended ear. As the magnitude of a peak in the event-related potential waveform can be modulated by differences in intertrial power but also by differences in the stability of EEG phase across trials, we sought to characterize the effect of distraction on intertrial power and intertrial phase locking around the latency of the N1. The presence of continuous speech resulted in a prominent reduction of theta EEG band intertrial phase locking around the latency of the N1. This suggests that distraction may act not only to disrupt a sensory gain mechanism but also to disrupt the temporal fidelity with which the brain responds to stimulus events.

The Decoupled Mind: Mind-wandering Disrupts Cortical Phase-locking to Perceptual Events

“…First, our findings are consistent with an oscillatory model of ERP generation in which the amplitude of the evoked response depends in part on phase resetting and phase alignment of EEG oscillations (e.g., Makeig et al, 2002;Jansen & Brandt, 1991). Consistent with previous work, the current results show that the amplitude of the visual P1 ERP was correlated with the cross-trial phase-locking of theta-band neural oscillations (Ponjavic-Conte et al, 2012;Gruber et al, 2005;Klimesch et al, 2004). However, phase measures did not predict all of the variance in ERP amplitude, and the correlation was only marginally significant at several recording sites.…”

“…One study compared the influence of two levels of auditory distractions during an auditory discrimination task (Ponjavic-Conte, Dowdall, Hambrook, Luczak, & Tata, 2012). Relative to a white noise sound, a continuous auditory speech in the unattended ear impaired task performance and also reduced the N1 amplitude evoked by nontarget stimuli in the attended ear.…”

EEG Theta Power and Coherence to Octave Illusion in First-Episode Paranoid Schizophrenia with Auditory Hallucinations

“…Among EEG bands, the theta frequency, which is generated by the interplay of the glutamatergic and the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic neurons [23,24], may be a suitable candidate. Documents have shown that the theta band is induced via the limbic-hippocampal-cortical feedback loop and is auditory specific [25,26,27]. Although other frequency bands exist, such as gamma rhythm, which is related to the GABA/glutamate interplay, our previous results [28] have demonstrated that the low-frequency theta band is specific to octave illusion response.…”

Neurodynamic evaluation of hearing aid features using EEG correlates of listening effort

“…2008; Ponjavic-Conte et al. 2012). Related to the findings in these studies, it can be assumed that a measure based on the cortical response is an appropriate way to estimate the listening effort.…”