title: Atypical auditory refractory periods in children from lower socio-economic status backgrounds: ERP evidence for a role of selective attention.
abstract: Previous neuroimaging studies indicate that lower socio-economic status (SES) is associated with reduced effects of selective attention on auditory processing. Here, we investigated whether lower SES is also associated with differences in a stimulus-driven aspect of auditory processing: the neural refractory period, or reduced amplitude response at faster rates of stimulus presentation. Thirty-two children aged 3 to 8 years participated, and were divided into two SES groups based on maternal education. Event-related brain potentials were recorded to probe stimuli presented at interstimulus intervals (ISIs) of 200, 500, or 1000 ms. These probes were superimposed on story narratives when attended and ignored, permitting a simultaneous experimental manipulation of selective attention. Results indicated that group differences in refractory periods differed as a function of attention condition. Children from higher SES backgrounds showed full neural recovery by 500 ms for attended stimuli, but required at least 1000 ms for unattended stimuli. In contrast, children from lower SES backgrounds showed similar refractory effects to attended and unattended stimuli, with full neural recovery by 500 ms. Thus, in higher SES children only, one functional consequence of selective attention is attenuation of the response to unattended stimuli, particularly at rapid ISIs, altering basic properties of the auditory refractory period. Together, these data indicate that differences in selective attention impact basic aspects of auditory processing in children from lower SES backgrounds.
authors.affiliation: Willamette University, Department of Psychology, 900 State Street, Salem, OR 97301, United States. Electronic address: cstevens@willamette.edu.
authors.forename: Courtney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 121 Meyran Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paulsen
authors.affiliation: Willamette University, Department of Psychology, 900 State Street, Salem, OR 97301, United States.
authors.forename: Alia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yasen
authors.affiliation: University of Oregon, Department of Psychology, 1227 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, United States.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Neville
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D011930:Reaction Time; D012923:Social Class
keywords: Attention; Auditory processing; ERP; Refractory periods; SES; Socioeconomic status