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| Research article summary (published 13 Apr 2003): |
Selective attention affects human brain stem frequency-following response.
Full Abstract
Selective attention modifies long-latency cortical event-related potentials. Amplitudes are typically enhanced and/or latencies reduced when evoking stimuli are attended. However, there is controversy concerning the effects of selective attention on short-latency brain stem evoked potentials. The objective of the present study was to assess possible attention effects on the brain stem auditory frequency-following response (FFR) elicited by a periodic tone. Young adult subjects heard a repetitive auditory stimulus while detecting infrequent target stimuli in either an auditory or visual detection task. Five channels of high frequency electroencephalographic (EEG) activity were recorded along the scalp midline with the center electrode positioned at the vertex. The FFR was elicited by the repetitive tone during both tasks. There were significant individual differences in the electrode sites yielding maximum response amplitudes, but overall FFR amplitudes were significantly larger during the auditory attention task. These results suggest that selective attention in humans can modify signal processing in sensory (afferent) pathways at the level of the brain stem. This may reflect top-down perceptual preprocessing mediated by extensive descending (efferent) pathways that originate in the cortex. Overall, the FFR appears to be a robust indicator of early auditory neural processing and shows effects not seen in brain stem auditory evoked response studies employing transient (click) acoustic stimuli.
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Author information
Author/s: Galbraith, Gary C (GC); Olfman, Darlene M (DM); Huffman, Todd M (TM);
Affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Mental Retardation Research Center, University of California at Los Angeles, Research Group at Lanterman Developmental Center, P.O. Box 100-R, Pomona, CA 91769, USA. garyg@ucld.edu
Grants: HD 04612 (Agency:United States NICHD)
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
Journal: Neuroreport (Neuroreport), published in England. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2003-Apr; vol 14 (issue 5) : pp 735-8
Dates: Created 2003/04/14; Completed 2003/07/23; Revised 2007/11/14;
PMID: 12692473, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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