The impact of simulated MRI scanner background noise on visual attention processes as measured by the EEG.

S Oliver Kobald,Edmund Wascher,Stephan Getzmann,Christian Beste

doi:10.1038/srep28371

Abstract

Environmental noise is known to affect personal well-being as well as cognitive processes. Besides daily life, environmental noise can also occur in experimental research settings, e.g. when being in a magnetic resonance scanner. Scanner background noise (SBN) might pose serious confounds for experimental findings, even when non-auditory settings are examined. In the current experiment we tested if SBN alters bottom-up and top-down related processes of selective visual attention mechanisms. Participants completed two blocks of a visual change detection task, one block in silence and one block under SBN exposure. SBN was found to decrease accuracy in measures of visual attention. This effect was modulated by the temporal occurrence of SBN. When SBN was encountered in the first block, it prevented a significant improvement of accuracy in the second block. When SBN appeared in the second block, it significantly decreased accuracy. Neurophysiological findings showed a strong frontal positivity shift only when SBN was present in the first block, suggesting an inhibitory process to counteract the interfering SBN. Common correlates of both top-down and bottom-up processes of selective visual attention were not specifically affected by SBN exposure. Further research appears necessary to entirely rule out confounds of SBN in assessing visual attention.

Highlights

We manage our daily life by continuously adjusting our behaviour to the environment
This interaction represents an overall influence of noise and shows that noise significantly decreased accuracy There were no main effects of block (F(1,22) = 1.34; p = 0.26; η2p = 0.06), order of Scanner background noise (SBN) presentation (F(1, 22) < 1; p = 0.68; η2p = 0.01) nor did the task condition influence the interaction of these factors (F(3, 66) < 1; p = 0.44; η2p = 0.04)
With the current experiment we tried to elucidate if SBN with a rather moderate sound pressure levels (SPLs) of 80 dB has an impact on attentional selection performance using a change detection task

Summary

Introduction

We manage our daily life by continuously adjusting our behaviour to the environment. Incoming signals are evaluated with respect to their relevance for behaviour and draw attention relative to their saliency. The attentional network is widespread across the brain, comprising sensory areas, the tempo-parietal junction and frontal regions such as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and is susceptible to a variety of interfering factors[2,3,4] These can improve or impair the selection of relevant information, which may affect processing[5]. With increased extrinsic motivation (for example by rewards), frontal cognitive control mechanisms increase and the processing of relevant information is amplified[6,7,8,9], leading to better performance in attentional selection. Environmental noise is seen as a possible source of stress that is able to distract individuals from their current task by capturing attention, increasing arousal and interrupting different cognitive processes[17,19,20,21]. Habituation and adaptation to the detrimental effects of noise is more difficult when irrelevant noise changes its characteristics (e.g. pitch and amplitude), leading to larger interference and a stronger irrelevant sound effect due to attentional capture[29,30]

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