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Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control

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Published on: July 5, 2015

Can an auditory multi-feature optimal paradigm be used for the study of processes associated with attention capture

Paniz Tavakoli¹, Kenneth Campbell¹

¹School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada K1N 6N5.

|August 7, 2016

Abstract

Objective:

A rarely occurring and highly relevant auditory stimulus occurring outside of the current focus of attention can cause a switching of attention. Such attention capture is often studied in oddball paradigms consisting of a frequently occurring "standard" stimulus which is changed at odd times to form a "deviant". The deviant may result in the capturing of attention. An auditory ERP, the P3a, is often associated with this process. To collect a sufficient amount of data is however very time-consuming. A more multi-feature "optimal" paradigm has been proposed but it is not known if it is appropriate for the study of attention capture.

Methods:

An optimal paradigm was run in which 6 different rare deviants (p=.08) were separated by a standard stimulus (p=.50) and compared to results when 4 oddball paradigms were also run.

Results:

A large P3a was elicited by some of the deviants in the optimal paradigm but not by others. However, very similar results were observed when separate oddball paradigms were run.

Conclusions & Significance:

The present study indicates that the optimal paradigm provides a very time-saving method to study attention capture and the P3a.

Keywords:

Attention capture Event-related potentials Optimal paradigm P3a

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