ERP correlates of the irrelevant sound effect
- 1 April 2010
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Psychophysiology
- Vol. 47 (6), 1182-1191
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.01029.x
Abstract
The irrelevant sound effect refers to a decrement in serial-recall performance when auditory distractors are played during encoding or retention of the to-be-remembered items. We examined the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) that were elicited in response to the auditory distractors during encoding and retention of visually presented target sequences. Changing-state distractor sequences that consisted of several different distractor items interfered more with serial recall than steady-state sequences that consisted of repetitions of a single distractor item. The ERP responses that were elicited in response to the distractors comprised the exogenous N1 component and were further characterized by a subsequent positive wave, and a late negativity. The changing-state effect was associated with an increased N1 and a P3a. The results support the attention-capture account of the irrelevant sound effect.Keywords
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