On the development of auditory distraction: A review.
The present review focuses on the development of involuntary attention mechanisms in the context of the occurrence of unexpected events during childhood. We introduce a prevailing three-stage model of auditory involuntary attention describing the processes leading to, accompanying, and following the distraction of attention by prediction violations: (a) the automatic detection of prediction violations (associated with the event-related potential [ERP] component mismatch negativity [MMN]), (b) the involuntary orienting of attention processes towards the prediction violating sound (associated with the ERP component P3a), and (c) the reorienting back to task-relevant information (associated with the ERP components reorienting negativity [RON] or late discriminative negativity [LDN]). Within this framework we give an overview of studies investigating MMN, P3a, RON/LDN, and behavioral distraction effects in children. We discuss the development of the underlying involuntary attention mechanisms and highlight the relevance of and future perspectives for this important field of research.
Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.|Department of Psychology, University of Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany.
Nicole
N
Wetzel
Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
Erich
E
Schröger
P3a; attention; auditory; children; distraction; event-related potential; mismatch negativity; oddball paradigm; orienting; prediction; reorienting negativity