title: Brain dynamics of distractibility: interaction between top-down and bottom-up mechanisms of auditory attention.
abstract: Attention improves the processing of specific information while other stimuli are disregarded. A good balance between bottom-up (attentional capture by unexpected salient stimuli) and top-down (selection of relevant information) mechanisms is crucial to be both task-efficient and aware of our environment. Only few studies have explored how an isolated unexpected task-irrelevant stimulus outside the attention focus can disturb the top-down attention mechanisms necessary to the good performance of the ongoing task, and how these top-down mechanisms can modulate the bottom-up mechanisms of attentional capture triggered by an unexpected event. We recorded scalp electroencephalography in 18 young adults performing a new paradigm measuring distractibility and assessing both bottom-up and top-down attention mechanisms, at the same time. Increasing task load in top-down attention was found to reduce early processing of the distracting sound, but not bottom-up attentional capture mechanisms nor the behavioral distraction cost in reaction time. Moreover, the impact of bottom-up attentional capture by distracting sounds on target processing was revealed as a delayed latency of the N100 sensory response to target sounds mirroring increased reaction times. These results provide crucial information into how bottom-up and top-down mechanisms dynamically interact and compete in the human brain, i.e. on the precarious balance between voluntary attention and distraction.
authors: Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center; CRNL, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, University of Lyon 1, Lyon, France, aurelie.bidet-caulet@inserm.fr.
authors: Aurélie
authors: A
authors: Bidet-Caulet
authors: Laure
authors: L
authors: Bottemanne
authors: Clara
authors: C
authors: Fonteneau
authors: Marie-Hélène
authors: MH
authors: Giard
authors: Olivier
authors: O
authors: Bertrand
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult