Understanding capture and suppression in auditory attention

• Applicant: Dr. Malte Wöstmann
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology ; Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 420596288

Human environments are shaped by many competing sensory inputs. Typically, a subset of these inputs is relevant for goal-directed action, whereas others are irrelevant and potentially distracting. While the attention-driven enhancement of relevant target stimuli is the subject of extensive research, the psychological and neuroscientific basis of processing and suppression of interfering stimuli is less well understood. This is especially true for the auditory modality, in which noise is constantly present and makes selective listening difficult, especially at an older age. Based on DFG-funded preliminary work of our own and following pioneering approaches from visual attention research, the present project introduces appropriate experimental control conditions into an established auditory attention paradigm to separate attention capture of auditory distractors (i.e., enhanced processing compared to control) from suppression (i.e., reduced processing compared to control). In sequential work packages, we pursue three research goals using behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) studies. First, we investigate the extent to which interference by irrelevant sounds of high saliency can be explained by increased capture and reduced suppression. Second, we test the hypothesis that the predictability of disruptive auditory distractors reduces capture and increases suppression, which will eventually support goal-directed action. Third, we test whether the known age-related increase in vulnerability to auditory distraction is explained by a change in the balance of capture and suppression. The main goal of this project is to decisively advance basic research on auditory attention in order to differentiate sub-mechanisms of auditory attention that have been postulated in attention models but are so far largely untested. Beyond basic research, the project will provide important approaches for the further development of signal processing in hearing aids and hearables to minimize capture of auditory distraction and support suppression.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Jonas Obleser