title: Effects of visual attentional load on auditory processing.
abstract: Auditory evoked potentials were recorded while participants attended to visually presented digits. The difficulty of the visual task was manipulated by requiring participants to process only the current digit (0-back) or both the current and the preceding digit (1-back). Tones deviating in frequency from standard tones elicited a frontal mismatch negativity peaking around 200 ms which did not vary with visual task. However, decreasing the visual task load enhanced a right-temporal positive wave peaking around 200 ms when tones were presented slowly, and a frontocentral negative wave peaking around 450 ms when tones were presented more rapidly. The degree to which task-irrelevant sounds are processed therefore depends on the degree to which a visual task engages attentional resources.
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute of the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ont, Canada.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Otten
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alain
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Picton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology