The effect of mental load on attention: an ERP study

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event The effect of mental load on attention: an ERP study Livia Gabriella Pató1* and I Czigler1 1 Institute for Psychology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary In this study we examined the effect of mental load on the processing of novel stimuli using the method of event related potentials (ERPs). A Go/no-go match/mismatch variant of the flanker task was introduced on two levels of mental load. For the high mental load participants performed a concurrent memory-scanning task. Novel stimuli (butterflies) replaced the distractor or they were presented without task relevant stimuli (go or no-go). Reaction time (RT) was slower in the dual task (a behavioral effect of mental load). RT increased in the presence of incompatible flanker and also in case of the presentation of novel as distractor. Unexpectedly, P3b amplitude increased in the higher mental load condition, irrespective of the type of irrelevant stimuli (compatible or incompatible flanker or novel). Mental load had no effect on the amplitude and latency of the P3a component. However P3a amplitude was sensitive to the task-relevance of the stimuli it was presented with: as the task relevance decreased, the amplitude became smaller. Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Turkey, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Attention Citation: Pató L and Czigler I (2008). The effect of mental load on attention: an ERP study. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.103 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 03 Dec 2008; Published Online: 03 Dec 2008. * Correspondence: Livia Gabriella Pató, Institute for Psychology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary, livia@cogpsyphy.hu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Livia Gabriella Pató I Czigler Google Livia Gabriella Pató I Czigler Google Scholar Livia Gabriella Pató I Czigler PubMed Livia Gabriella Pató I Czigler Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.