Event-related brain potentials in selective listening to frequent and rare stimuli

K. Alho*, J. Lavikainen, K. Reinikainen, M. Sams, R. Naatanen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Our previous event-related brain potential (ERP) results suggest that during selective listening, relevant stimuli are selected for further processing by comparing each stimulus to an 'attentional trace,' a neuronal representation of the physical features of the relevant stimuli that distinguish them from the irrelevant stimuli. This comparison process is reflected by the early component of the processing negativity (PN), which is largest and longest to the relevant stimuli (perfectly matching with the trace). In the present study, the subjects selectively listened to designated tone stimuli which randomly appeared among irrelevant tones of a different pitch. The probability of relevant stimuli in a block was varied. The processing negativity elicited by relevant stimuli was smaller the less frequent they were. The results support the attentional-trace theory of selective attention, which proposes that, in addition to active maintenance, the trace also depends on the rate of sensory reinforcement provided by the relevant stimuli.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)73-86
Number of pages14
JournalPsychophysiology
Volume27
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 1990
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • audition
  • event-related brain potential (ERP)
  • processing negativity
  • selective attention

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