Visual Task Demands and the Auditory Mismatch Negativity: An Empirical Study and a Meta-Analysis.

ABSTRACT: Because the auditory system is particularly useful in monitoring the environment, previous research has examined whether task-irrelevant, auditory distracters are processed even if subjects focus their attention on visual stimuli. This research suggests that attentionally demanding visual tasks decrease the auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) to simultaneously presented auditory distractors. Because a recent behavioral study found that high visual perceptual load decreased detection sensitivity of simultaneous tones, we used a similar task (n = 28) to determine if high visual perceptual load would reduce the auditory MMN. Results suggested that perceptual load did not decrease the MMN. At face value, these nonsignificant findings may suggest that effects of perceptual load on the MMN are sm

SUBMITTER: Wiens S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4704804 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature