title: The dissociation between the P3a event-related potential and behavioral distraction.
abstract: Unexpected novel sounds can capture our attention and impair performance. Recent behavioral research revealed that only novel sounds that provided target-related (but not task-related) information impaired performance. This poses the question of the automaticity of novelty processing and its expression at the behavioral level. In an auditory-visual oddball paradigm, the informational content of sounds regarding the time and probability of target occurrence was varied. Independent from the informational content, novel, and deviant sounds elicited the P3a, an ERP-component related to novelty processing. In contrast, impaired performance was only observed if target-related information was provided. Results indicate that distractor sounds are automatically evaluated as potentially significant, but that the consequences for behavior depend on further processes such as the processing of the given information.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. wetzel@uni-leipzig.de
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wetzel
authors.forename: Erich
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schröger
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Widmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attention; Behavioral distraction; CNV; Information; Novel; Novelty P3; P3a; Performance; White noise deviant