Abstract
BackgroundNoise is typically conceived of as being detrimental for cognitive performance; however, a recent computational model based on the concepts of stochastic resonance and dopamine related internal noise postulates that a moderate amount of auditive noise benefit individuals in hypodopaminergic states. On the basis of this model we predicted that inattentive children would be enhanced by adding background white noise while attentive children's performance would deteriorate.MethodsFifty-one secondary school pupils carried out an episodic verbal free recall test in two noise conditions. In the high noise condition, verb-noun sentences were presented during auditory background noise (white noise, 78 dB), and in the low noise condition sentences were presented without noise.ResultsExposure to background noise improved performance for inattentive children and worsened performance for attentive children and eliminated episodic memory differences between attentive and inattentive school children.ConclusionsConsistent with the model, our data show that cognitive performance can be moderated by external background white noise stimulation in a non-clinical group of inattentive participants. This finding needs replicating in a larger sample using more noise levels but if replicated has great practical applications by offering a non-invasive way to improve school results in children with attentional problems.
Highlights
Noise is typically conceived of as being detrimental for cognitive performance; a recent computational model based on the concepts of stochastic resonance and dopamine related internal noise postulates that a moderate amount of auditive noise benefit individuals in hypodopaminergic states
We choose the standard scoring procedure in the action memory literature [10,49], where strict scoring is used for the nouns and lenient scoring is used for verbs
In summary, the present study suggests that cognitive performance can be moderated by external stimulation in a non-clinical group of teacher-rated inattentive participants
Summary
Noise is typically conceived of as being detrimental for cognitive performance; a recent computational model based on the concepts of stochastic resonance and dopamine related internal noise postulates that a moderate amount of auditive noise benefit individuals in hypodopaminergic states. It has long been known that cognitive processing is disturbed by incompatible environmental stimulation which distracts attention from tasks [1]. This effect is believed to stem from competition for attentional resources between the distracting and the target stimuli. At the same time there are reports of contradictory findings where certain types of task irrelevant noise improve the performance of children. This effect may be most pronounced in
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