Perceptual and cognitive control of auditory distraction

听觉干扰的知觉和认知控制

• 批准号: 421966099
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Florian Kattner
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Arbeitsgruppe Angewandte Kognitionspsychologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2018-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/421966099?language=en
• 关键词: Perceptual; cognitive; control; auditory; distraction

Cognitive performance such as recall from short-term memory is known to be affected by irrelevant sound. The recent duplex-mechanism account suggests that effects of auditory distraction may result (a) from interference between temporally varying (changing-state) and he process of serial rehearsal or (b) attentional capture due to auditory deviants. It has been found that the deviation effect is sensitive to cognitive control, whereas the interference of changing-state sound is a more automatic process. However, there is also evidence suggesting that enhanced auditory filtering and perceptual control may shield against the interference produced by changing-state sound. This project investigates whether the two forms of auditory distraction can be counteracted through training-related enhancement of perceptual and cognitive control. Based on promising results of a pilot study, we argue that the interference between changing-state sound and serial rehearsal can be attenuated by strengthening perceptual control skills enabling individuals to inhibit task-irrelevant auditory information. This assumption will be tested by training participants on a dichotic listening task requiring continuous inhibition of irrelevant speech information based on acoustical properties. The transfer of a multi-day training on the two forms of auditory distraction will be assessed with a serial and a non-serial short-term memory task before and after training. In line with the duplex-mechanism account, training-related enhancement of auditory perceptual control is expected to reduce the interference effect on serial short-term memory, but it is not expected to reduce the deviation effect (study 1). Given that the deviation effect is sensitive to cognitive control, we further predict that this form of distraction can be reduced through cognitive training. To enhance central functions of cognitive control (e.g., updating and monitoring), participants will be trained on an auditory working memory task (n-back), and training-related enhancement of cognitive control is expected to reduce the deviation effect on serial and non-serial memory tasks, but it is not expected to reduce the interference effect on serial rehearsal (study 2). A further research strategy employed in this project seeks to benefit from naturally occurring, age-dependent differences in perceptual and cognitive control. Specifically, older adults were found to exhibit both reduced working memory capacity and weaker inhibitory control. Here pre-existing differences in working memory capacity (operation span task) and inhibitory control (flanker task) between old and young adults will be used to predict the degree of auditory distraction. As the changing-state and the deviation effects are assumed to be differentially sensitive to perceptual versus cognitive control, we expect the result to reveal the predominant mechanism by which interference from irrelevant sound is exacerbated in old age (study 3).

认知表现，如短期记忆的回忆，已知会受到不相关声音的影响。最近的听觉干扰机制解释表明，听觉干扰的影响可能是由于（a）时间变化（变化状态）和连续复述过程之间的干扰或（B）由于听觉偏差引起的注意捕获。研究发现，偏离效应对认知控制比较敏感，而变化状态声音的干扰则是一个更加自动化的过程。然而，也有证据表明，增强的听觉过滤和知觉控制可能会屏蔽由变化状态的声音产生的干扰。本研究旨在探讨这两种形式的听觉分心是否可以通过训练相关的知觉和认知控制的增强来抵消。基于一项有希望的试点研究结果，我们认为，改变状态的声音和串行排练之间的干扰可以减弱，通过加强知觉控制技能，使个人能够抑制任务无关的听觉信息。这一假设将通过训练参与者的双耳分听任务进行测试，该任务要求基于声学特性连续抑制不相关的语音信息。在训练之前和之后，将使用序列和非序列短期记忆任务来评估关于两种形式的听觉分心的多日训练的转移。与干扰机制的解释一致，训练相关的听觉知觉控制增强有望减少对串行短时记忆的干扰效应，但预计不会减少偏差效应（研究1）。鉴于偏差效应对认知控制敏感，我们进一步预测，这种形式的分心可以通过认知训练来减少。为了增强认知控制的中枢功能（例如，更新和监测），参与者将接受听觉工作记忆任务（n-back）的训练，与训练相关的认知控制增强预计会减少对串行和非串行记忆任务的偏差效应，但预计不会减少对串行复述的干扰效应（研究2）。本项目采用的进一步研究策略旨在从感知和认知控制中自然发生的年龄依赖性差异中获益。具体来说，老年人被发现表现出工作记忆能力下降和抑制控制能力减弱。在这里，老年人和年轻人之间的工作记忆容量（操作跨度任务）和抑制控制（侧翼任务）的预先存在的差异将被用来预测听觉分心的程度。由于改变状态和偏差效应被假设为对知觉控制和认知控制的敏感性不同，我们希望结果能揭示老年人不相关声音干扰加剧的主要机制（研究3）。