Contribution
Cue-related Evoked Potentials Capture Auditory Attention Switches
* Presenting author
Abstract:
Successful communication in acoustically challenging scenarios requires targeted focusing and switching of auditory attention between the conversational partners. When three or more people are involved, the relevant speakers must be selected, and their speech must be extracted from irrelevant acoustic signals. In a cued attention-switching paradigm, auditory evoked potentials of cues and test stimuli were measured to assess attention switches on the neurological level. The cues indicated the spatial location of the subsequent target stimulus, which had to be distinguished from a simultaneously presented distractor originating from a different location. Two consecutive cues indicating a spatial change of the target result in an auditory selective attention switch in space. Test stimuli comprised digits (1, 4, 6, and 9) spoken by a male and a female speaker. Participants had to judge whether the target digit was smaller or larger than five. Behavioral results showed expected switching costs in reaction times, i.e., responses were slower when the target position changed. On the evoked potential level, differences between trials requiring an attention switch and those without were observed.