Auditory evoked potentials and selective attention.

Abstract Twelve subjects listened to a mixture of three short tones (135, 270 and 2268 c/sec) coming at random intervals ranging from 300 to 1760 msec and presented in series of short runs (average 25 tones per run). In each run one tone was designated relevant and the other two irrelevant. Subjects had to count the relevant tones, reporting the total at the end of each run. The EEG following each tone was averaged and showed the following characteristics for relevant as compared with irrelevant tones: (1) a greater amplitude of the conventional peak-to-peak measure, N1-P2; (2) a large, slow positive wave extending usually from latency 150 to about 640 msec; (3) a sharp positive wave, clear only in some of the records, at latency 300 msec. Selective attention performance was related to relevant/irrelevant differences in the positivity at 300 msec but not to N1-P2. It is suggested that the “late positive wave” is a return of prestimulus contingent negative variation (CNV) to baseline and that this, occuring selectively following relevant stimuli, constitutes the EEG sign of selective attention paid to the stimulus. Apparent changes in N1-P2 with selective attention may be due to its summation with the positive-going CNV return, N1-P2 itself remaining invariate.

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