Effects of Complexity of Visual Distracters on Attention and Information Processing Speed Reflected in Auditory P300

Abstract

Findings indicate that endogenous attentional resource allocation abilities can be effectively monitored through the addition of a complex, visually distracting task to a "classic" auditory P300 paradigm. Biological relevance of the distracting task does not seem to have an effect on the event-related potentials measured in this study, suggesting other aspects, such as whether or not a stimulus contains color or motion, may determine the efficiency of the distracter. Last, by increasing the complexity of, and amount of attention to, a visual distracter while evoking P300s using auditory stimuli, the cognitive load for the normal, healthy listener seems to be increased and the response amplitude subsequently reduced. Evoking P300s under similar conditions from disordered populations with subtle cognitive deficits (e.g., mild traumatic brain injury) may allow for increased diagnostic specificity and sensitivity over that found for P300s to classic, auditory oddball paradigms alone.