Sensation seeking correlates of passive auditory P3 to a single stimulus

A single auditory stimulus in a passive ignore condition elicits a P3 potential (passive P3) that shares similar morphology with the classical P3 (P300 or P3b) in the active auditory 'oddball' paradigm. Since the classical P3 is correlated with introversion, anxiety, or sensation seeking, it was hypothesized that the passive P3 is correlated with sensation seeking personality. Therefore, 39 healthy subjects aged from 15 to 57 years and free from depression, were asked to answer Zuckerman's sensation seeking scales (SSS), and undergo an auditory event-related potential procedure with a single stimulus. In all subjects, a clear passive P3 appeared at three midline electrodes that shared similar latency and amplitude to the classical P3. The SSS total and experience seeking subscale scores were positively correlated with N1 amplitude at Fz. In contrast, the SSS total and some subscale scores were negatively correlated with the passive P3 amplitudes at the three electrodes. The sensation seeking personality effects on the passive P3 might be via a cortical inhibition process during memory updating, which are considered to be involved in the classical P3.