title: The effects of between-source discriminability on attended and unattended auditory ERPs.
abstract: Event-related potentials (ERPs) for tone pips from attended and unattended sources, which varied on discriminability, were compared with ERPs for the same stimuli recorded during performance of a visual task. This comparison revealed that Nd, the negative shift of attended relative to unattended ERPs, consisted of three components: a negativity in the attended ERP from 100 to 270 ms, a positivity in the unattended ERP from 170 ms to the end of the epoch, and a second negativity in the attended ERP from 270 to 700 ms. In general, the later onset of early Nd with more difficult between-source discriminations could be attributed to the later onset of the positivity in unattended ERPs. A number of hypotheses were advanced for the origin of the unattended positivity: the suppression of the later of two negative components in the 100-220-ms range, an enhanced P2 component, an endogenous positivity, or the resolution of a protracted negativity elicited by preceding attended stimuli.
authors.affiliation: School of Behavioural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Michie
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Solowij
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Crawford
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Glue
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013017:Sound Localization / Q000502:physiology