Mon thème de recherche est d’étudier l’influence de l’apprentissage de la musique sur le traitement acoustique et phonologique de la syllabe chez des enfants normolecteurs et dyslexiques. Dans ce but, j’ai conduit plusieurs expériences basées sur l’utilisation conjointe des méthodes issues de la psychologie expérimentale (Temps de Réaction, TRs, et pourcentage d’erreurs, %err) et de l’électrophysiologie chez l’homme (Potentiels Evoqués, PEs). En comparant des enfants musiciens et non-musiciens de 9 ans, j’ai d’abord testé les effets de l’expertise musicale sur les traitements attentif (TRs et %err) et pré-attentif (en utilisant la Mismatch Negativity, MMN) de paramètres acoustiques, fréquence et durée des syllabes, et d’un paramètre phonologique, le Voice Onset Time (VOT; Expérience I). Les résultats montrent que l'expertise musicale améliore les traitements pré-attentif et attentif de la durée et du VOT dans les syllabes et le traitement attentif des variations de fréquence. Dans une seconde étude, j’ai utilisé la MMN pour comparer le traitement de ces mêmes paramètres chez des enfants dyslexiques et normolecteurs. Les enfants dyslexiques montrent un déficit du traitement de la durée des syllabes et du VOT comparés aux enfants normolecteurs. Enfin, dans les deux dernières études, j’ai utilisé la méthode longitudinale pour tester l’influence de l’apprentissage de la musique sur le traitement pré-attentif (MMN) de ces mêmes paramètres chez des enfants normolecteurs (Expérience III) et dyslexiques (Expérience IV). Les résultats de l’Expérience III montrent que 12 mois d’apprentissage de la musique améliorent le traitement pré-attentif de la durée et du VOT chez les enfants normolecteurs. En reproduisant les effets trouvés dans l’Expérience I, ces résultats soulignent que l’avantage mis en évidence chez les enfants musiciens ne résulterait pas uniquement de prédispositions génétiques pour la musique mais serait causalement lié à l’apprentissage musical. Enfin, les résultats de l’Expérience IV montrent que 6 mois d’apprentissage de la musique améliorent le traitement pré-attentif du VOT chez les enfants dyslexiques, suggérant que l’apprentissage musical pourrait être utilisé comme une aide à la remédiation de la dyslexie.Pris dans leur ensemble, ces résultats démontrent une relation forte entre traitements acoustique et phonologique. L’apprentissage de la musique, en améliorant la sensibilité des enfants aux paramètres acoustiques dans la musique et dans le langage (processus communs), augmenterait également leur sensibilité aux paramètres phonologiques associés et permettrait ainsi la construction de représentations phonologiques plus robustes (transfert d’apprentissage de la musique vers le langage). / My research is aimed at studying the influence of musical training on the acoustic and phonological processing of syllables in children with dyslexia and in normal-reading children. To this aim, I conducted several experiments by using methods issued from experimental psychology (Reaction Times, RTs, and error rates, %err) and from human electrophysiology (Event-Related brain Potentials, ERPs)By comparing 9-year-old musician and non-musician children, I first tested for the effects of musical expertise on attentive (RTs and %err) and preattentive processing (by using the Mismatch Negativity, MMN) of the acoustical parameters, frequency and duration, of syllables and of a phonological parameter, the Voice Onset Time (VOT; Experiment I). Results showed enhanced preattentive and attentive processing of syllables’ duration and VOT in musicians compared to nonmusician children. Secondly, I compared the processing of these same parameters in dyslexic and normal-reading children (Experiment II) by using the MMN. Results revealed that children with dyslexia showed deficits for the processing of duration and VOT in syllables compared to normal-readers. Finally, in the last two studies, I used the longitudinal method to test for the influence of musical training on the processing of the same acoustic and phonological parameters of syllables, in normal-reading children (Experiment III) and in children with dyslexia (Experiment IV). Results of Experiment III showed that 12 months of musical training enhanced duration and VOT processing in syllables, thereby demonstrating that the effects of musical expertise shown in Experiment I are not likely to only result from specific genetic predispositions for music but are causally linked to musical training. Finally, results of Experiment IV revealed that 6 months of musical training in children with dyslexia enhanced their sensitivity to VOT processing, suggesting that musical training could be an aid for the remediation of dyslexia.These results highlight the relationship between acoustical and phonological processing. Musical training, by refining the acoustical network responsible for the acoustic processing in music and speech sounds (common processing) also enhances sensitivity to phonological associated features and, consequently, the building-up of more robust phonological representations (transfer of training effect from music to language processing).

De part sa mise en pratique considérable dans des conditions cliniques, l’étude neuroscientifique de la méditation de pleine conscience a vu un développement rapide ces deux dernières décennies. Malgré des preuves de modifications de l’activité et de la structure du cerveau, les mécanismes neuronaux et cognitifs sous tendant les pratiques méditatives sont encore peu connus. Dans le présent travail nous avons testé l’hypothèse que la méditation de pleine conscience implique un changement dans la cognition de l’expérience vécue, impactant de ce fait la formation des habitudes mentales. Pour cela nous avons étudié la relation entre la phénoménologie de différents styles de méditation, chez des pratiquants experts et novices, et des marqueurs neurophysiologiques de l’apprentissage perceptuel (i.e. négativité de discordance auditive) et de l’attention dans des conditions neutres et émotionnelles.Nous avons trouvé qu’un style de méditation non-duel augmente la vigilance sensorielle et réduit l’apprentissage perceptuel comparé à une pratique d’attention focalisée. Par ailleurs, nous avons démontré que l’apprentissage perceptuel auditif n’est pas influencé par une menace non prédictible, à part pour des sujets naturellement plus anxieux ; un effet qui pourrait être diminué par la méditation de pleine conscience. Nous avons aussi identifié des composants de la réponse évoquée auditive comme potentiels corrélats neuraux des processus de vigilance à l‘œuvre lors des états de pleine conscience. Enfin, nous avons mis en évidence, chez des pratiquants experts, un lien direct entre la régulation émotionnelle et des changements de l’expérience subjective.Au final, le travail actuel enrichit le dialogue entre les neurosciences cognitives et les modèles phénoménologiques de la méditation en apportant des preuves sur les possibles mécanismes neurocognitifs sous-tendant les pratiques méditatives et leur expertise / Due to its widespread implementation in clinical settings, the neuroscientific study of mindfulness meditation has seen a rapid growth in the last two decades. Despite the evidence of changes in brain activity and structures, the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying meditation practices are largely unknown. In this work, we investigated the hypothesis that mindfulness meditation entails a cognitive stance towards experience which impacts the formation of mental habits. With this aim, we studied the relationship between the phenomenology of different styles of mindfulness meditation, in expert and novice practitioners, and neurophysiological markers of perceptual learning (i.e. auditory mismatch negativity) and attention in neutral and emotional settings. We found that a nondual style of mindfulness meditation increased sensory monitoring and reduced perceptual learning compared to a focused attention practice. Additionally, we demonstrated that auditory perceptual learning is not affected by unpredictable threat, except for individuals with high dispositional anxiety; an effect that might be downregulated by meditation states. Finally, we identified components of the auditory evoked response as putative neural correlates of monitoring processes during mindfulness practices and we highlighted a direct link between changes in subjective experience and emotion regulation in expert practitioners.Overall, the present work fosters the dialogue between cognitive neuroscience and phenomenological models of meditation and provides evidence of the possible neurocognitive mechanisms underlying meditation practices and expertise

Introdução: Estudos sobre a produção da escrita infantil do português brasileiro (PB) demonstraram que um dos erros ortográficos mais frequentes na linguagem escrita são os erros de caracterização surda-sonora. Acredita-se que essas crianças podem apresentar alteração no processamento auditivo temporal que poderia desencadear dificuldades para a percepção de fonemas de característica semelhantes, ocasionando uma representação fonológica inadequada que não permite a associação fonema-grafema de forma correta. Sendo assim, um programa de treinamento auditivo temporal (PTAT) com base em atividades adaptadas do software Fast ForWord (FFW) foi proposto para a reabilitação de dificuldades relacionadas ao processamento auditivo temporal e associação fonema-grafema. Objetivo: Verificar a eficácia de um PTAT com atividades adaptadas do FFW na reabilitação das habilidades auditivas temporais e na redução de processos de erros ortográficos de caracterização surda-sonora em crianças que apresentam esse tipo de erro. Métodos: No presente estudo participaram 16 crianças na faixa etária de 10 a 12 anos. As crianças apresentaram erros ortográficos de caracterização surda-sonora e alteração em um dos testes de processamento auditivo temporal que foram utilizados na avaliação. Essas crianças foram divididas em dois grupos: um grupo experimental (GE) que realizou as atividades do PTAT e um grupo placebo (GP) que realizou um treinamento placebo (TP) com atividades visuais. Após a finalização do TP, as crianças do GP foram reavaliadas e inseridas no GE. As crianças de ambos os grupos foram submetidas a avaliações pré e pós-treino utilizando medidas comportamentais do processamento auditivo, a saber: Teste de Padrão de Frequência (TPF) para a habilidade auditiva de ordenação temporal, GIN (Gaps in Noise) para a habilidade auditiva de resolução temporal e Teste Temporal Progressivo (TTP) para verificar a percepção de diferentes intervalos inter-estímulos de forma rápida. Além disso, foi realizada a avaliação eletrofisiológica utilizando o Mismatch Negativity (MMN) com as sílabas /da/ e /ga/ e avaliação da escrita que foi realizada com um ditado em que foram avaliados os erros ortográficos de caracterização surda-sonora em relação à quantidade desses erros nos grafemas plosivos e fricativos, a frequência de ocorrência de erros nos mesmos grafemas e a quantidade de processos referentes à sonorização e dessonorização. Resultados: No presente estudo não foram encontradas diferenças estatisticamente significante para o GP entre a avaliação pré e pós-treino placebo em todas as medidas propostas de avaliação, enquanto para o GE foram encontradas diferenças estatisticamente significantes entre a avaliação pré e pós-treino em todos os testes comportamentais do processamento auditivo e na latência do MMN. Na avalição da escrita foram encontradas diferenças estaticamente significantes para a redução da quantidade dos erros ortográficos de caracterização surda-sonora nos grafemas fricativos, para a frequência de ocorrência de erros nos grafemas plosivos e fricativos e na quantidade de processos referentes à sonorização e dessonorização. Conclusões: O presente estudo demonstrou que houve eficácia do PTAT na reabilitação e aperfeiçoamento das habilidades auditivas de ordenação e resolução temporal e na percepção de menores intervalos inter-estímulos apresentados de forma rápida, assim como na latência das respostas do MMN e redução de processos de erros na escrita de crianças que apresentaram erros ortográficos de caracterização surda-sonora / Introduction: Studies on children\'s written production of the Brazilian Portuguese (BP) have shown that one of the most frequent orthographic errors is the voiced-voiceless type. It is believed that children who perform this kind of error might present variations in the auditory temporal processing, which could impair the perception of phonemes with similar characteristics. This would then cause an inadequate phonological representation that does not allow the correct phoneme-grapheme association. Bearing this in mind, this work proposed an auditory temporal training program based on activities from the software Fast ForWord (FFW) to restore the skills related to auditory temporal processing and phoneme-grapheme association. Objective: Verify the effectiveness of an auditory temporal training program containing activities adapted from the FFW, which aims at restoring the temporal auditory abilities and reducing orthographic errors of the voiced-voiceless type in children who perform them. Method: Sixteen children aged between 10 and 12 years old participated on this study. They presented orthographic errors of the voiced-voiceless type and changes in one of the auditory temporal processing tests that was used in the evaluation. The children were divided in two groups: experimental group (EG), that performed the activities of the auditory temporal training; and the placebo group (PG), that performed a placebo training based on visual activities. After the end of the placebo training, children from this group were re-evaluated and put in the EG. Children from both groups underwent evaluations before and after the training through three auditory processing behavior measures, that were: Pitch Pattern Sequence Test (PPST), to measure the auditory temporal ordering skill; Gaps in Noise (GIN), to measure temporal resolution; and Progressive Temporal Test, to verify the perception of different quick inter-stimuli intervals. Besides that, an electrophysiological evaluation was conducted by using Mismatch Negativity (MMN) with the syllables /da/ and /ga/, as well as a written evaluation using a dictation. In this evaluation, the occurrences of the voiced-voiceless type error were analyzed in relation to: plosive and fricative graphemes; the frequency with which those type of errors occur in the same graphemes, and also the amount of processes that refer to voicing and devoicing. Results: The present study did not find statistically significant differences for the PG when comparing the evaluations conducted before and after the training in all the measures of evaluation. However, for the EG, statistically significant differences were found when comparing both evaluations - in all the behavior tests of the auditory processing and in the MMN latency as well. As for the written evaluation, statistically significant differences were also found, such as: the reduction of error in the amount of voiced-voiceless type errors in the fricative graphemes; reduction in the occurrence on plosive and fricative graphemes; and the reduction in the amount of processes related to voicing and devoicing. Conclusions: The present study showed that an auditory temporal training aiming at the rehabilitation and improvement of the auditory abilities of temporal ordering and resolution is effective. It also showed the training efficacy concerning: the perception of short inter-stimuli intervals presented quickly; the latency of MMN responses; as well as the reduction of error processes in the writing of children who presented orthographic errors of the voiced-voiceless type

L’hypothèse de ce travail est que les sujets schizophrènes souffrant d’hallucinations auditives verbales perçoivent leur propre voix comme une voix étrangère. L'objectif de notre travail est donc d'étudier les réponses électrophysiologiques évoquées par la voix des participants et celle d’une personne inconnue. Nos résultats chez les sujets sains montrent que nous allouons moins de ressources attentionnelles automatiques à notre propre voix que par rapport à une voix inconnue. Cet effet d’atténuation de l’orientation automatique de l’attention pour sa propre voix n’est pas observé chez les patients schizophrènes. De plus, conformément à notre hypothèse initiale, cet effet est d’autant plus faible que la sévérité des hallucinations est forte. / The hypothesis of this study was that schizophrenic patients with auditory verbal hallucinations perceive their own voices as alien voices. The aim of the study was to investigate the electrophysiological responses evoked by participants’own voices and those of unknown individuals. Our results in healthy subjects showed that they allocated fever automatic attentional resources to their own voices than to unfamiliar voices. This attenuation effect of the automatic orientation of attention to own voice was not observed in schizophrenic patients. In addition, in agreement with our initial hypothesis, the attenuation decreased even further as the hallucinations became more severe.

L’intolérance au changement est fréquemment observée dans l'autisme et s'exprime dans toutes les modalités sensorielles. L’objectif de ce travail était d’étudier la perception automatique du changement visuel chez des enfants et adultes avec autisme via un paradigme oddball passif. En utilisant l’électrophysiologie, des réponses atypiques aux changements visuels mêmes mineurs, ont été mises en évidence dans l’autisme, quel que soit l'âge, suggérant une hyperdistractibilité des patients. De plus, l’utilisation de l’IRMf a permis de révéler, lors de la présentation d’un changement visuel, une hyperactivation du cortex sensoriel associée à une hyperactivation du cortex cingulaire antérieur, d’autant plus élevée que les patients avaient des traits autistiques marqués. Cette étude suggère donc qu’une hyper-réactivité sensorielle associée à des troubles de l’attention visuelle sélective contribueraient aux troubles de perception du changement et aux difficultés d'adaptation dans l’autisme. / Resistance to change is often reported in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and may occur in all sensory modalities. The aim of the present work was to investigate automatic visual change detection in children and adults with ASD using a passive oddball paradigm. Whatever the age, electrophysiological results showed atypical responses to, even minor, changes, suggesting an hyper distractibility in the patients. Besides, fMRI results revealed hyperactivation of the sensory cortex associated with hyperactivation of the anterior cingulate cortex in adults with ASD, the latest being correlated with the degree of autistics symptoms. These studies thus suggest that a sensory hyper-reactivity associated with visual selective attention deficits might contribute to atypical change perception and adaptation in ASD.

Introdução: Estudos sobre a produção da escrita infantil do português brasileiro (PB) demonstraram que um dos erros ortográficos mais frequentes na linguagem escrita são os erros de caracterização surda-sonora. Acredita-se que essas crianças podem apresentar alteração no processamento auditivo temporal que poderia desencadear dificuldades para a percepção de fonemas de característica semelhantes, ocasionando uma representação fonológica inadequada que não permite a associação fonema-grafema de forma correta. Sendo assim, um programa de treinamento auditivo temporal (PTAT) com base em atividades adaptadas do software Fast ForWord (FFW) foi proposto para a reabilitação de dificuldades relacionadas ao processamento auditivo temporal e associação fonema-grafema. Objetivo: Verificar a eficácia de um PTAT com atividades adaptadas do FFW na reabilitação das habilidades auditivas temporais e na redução de processos de erros ortográficos de caracterização surda-sonora em crianças que apresentam esse tipo de erro. Métodos: No presente estudo participaram 16 crianças na faixa etária de 10 a 12 anos. As crianças apresentaram erros ortográficos de caracterização surda-sonora e alteração em um dos testes de processamento auditivo temporal que foram utilizados na avaliação. Essas crianças foram divididas em dois grupos: um grupo experimental (GE) que realizou as atividades do PTAT e um grupo placebo (GP) que realizou um treinamento placebo (TP) com atividades visuais. Após a finalização do TP, as crianças do GP foram reavaliadas e inseridas no GE. As crianças de ambos os grupos foram submetidas a avaliações pré e pós-treino utilizando medidas comportamentais do processamento auditivo, a saber: Teste de Padrão de Frequência (TPF) para a habilidade auditiva de ordenação temporal, GIN (Gaps in Noise) para a habilidade auditiva de resolução temporal e Teste Temporal Progressivo (TTP) para verificar a percepção de diferentes intervalos inter-estímulos de forma rápida. Além disso, foi realizada a avaliação eletrofisiológica utilizando o Mismatch Negativity (MMN) com as sílabas /da/ e /ga/ e avaliação da escrita que foi realizada com um ditado em que foram avaliados os erros ortográficos de caracterização surda-sonora em relação à quantidade desses erros nos grafemas plosivos e fricativos, a frequência de ocorrência de erros nos mesmos grafemas e a quantidade de processos referentes à sonorização e dessonorização. Resultados: No presente estudo não foram encontradas diferenças estatisticamente significante para o GP entre a avaliação pré e pós-treino placebo em todas as medidas propostas de avaliação, enquanto para o GE foram encontradas diferenças estatisticamente significantes entre a avaliação pré e pós-treino em todos os testes comportamentais do processamento auditivo e na latência do MMN. Na avalição da escrita foram encontradas diferenças estaticamente significantes para a redução da quantidade dos erros ortográficos de caracterização surda-sonora nos grafemas fricativos, para a frequência de ocorrência de erros nos grafemas plosivos e fricativos e na quantidade de processos referentes à sonorização e dessonorização. Conclusões: O presente estudo demonstrou que houve eficácia do PTAT na reabilitação e aperfeiçoamento das habilidades auditivas de ordenação e resolução temporal e na percepção de menores intervalos inter-estímulos apresentados de forma rápida, assim como na latência das respostas do MMN e redução de processos de erros na escrita de crianças que apresentaram erros ortográficos de caracterização surda-sonora / Introduction: Studies on children\'s written production of the Brazilian Portuguese (BP) have shown that one of the most frequent orthographic errors is the voiced-voiceless type. It is believed that children who perform this kind of error might present variations in the auditory temporal processing, which could impair the perception of phonemes with similar characteristics. This would then cause an inadequate phonological representation that does not allow the correct phoneme-grapheme association. Bearing this in mind, this work proposed an auditory temporal training program based on activities from the software Fast ForWord (FFW) to restore the skills related to auditory temporal processing and phoneme-grapheme association. Objective: Verify the effectiveness of an auditory temporal training program containing activities adapted from the FFW, which aims at restoring the temporal auditory abilities and reducing orthographic errors of the voiced-voiceless type in children who perform them. Method: Sixteen children aged between 10 and 12 years old participated on this study. They presented orthographic errors of the voiced-voiceless type and changes in one of the auditory temporal processing tests that was used in the evaluation. The children were divided in two groups: experimental group (EG), that performed the activities of the auditory temporal training; and the placebo group (PG), that performed a placebo training based on visual activities. After the end of the placebo training, children from this group were re-evaluated and put in the EG. Children from both groups underwent evaluations before and after the training through three auditory processing behavior measures, that were: Pitch Pattern Sequence Test (PPST), to measure the auditory temporal ordering skill; Gaps in Noise (GIN), to measure temporal resolution; and Progressive Temporal Test, to verify the perception of different quick inter-stimuli intervals. Besides that, an electrophysiological evaluation was conducted by using Mismatch Negativity (MMN) with the syllables /da/ and /ga/, as well as a written evaluation using a dictation. In this evaluation, the occurrences of the voiced-voiceless type error were analyzed in relation to: plosive and fricative graphemes; the frequency with which those type of errors occur in the same graphemes, and also the amount of processes that refer to voicing and devoicing. Results: The present study did not find statistically significant differences for the PG when comparing the evaluations conducted before and after the training in all the measures of evaluation. However, for the EG, statistically significant differences were found when comparing both evaluations - in all the behavior tests of the auditory processing and in the MMN latency as well. As for the written evaluation, statistically significant differences were also found, such as: the reduction of error in the amount of voiced-voiceless type errors in the fricative graphemes; reduction in the occurrence on plosive and fricative graphemes; and the reduction in the amount of processes related to voicing and devoicing. Conclusions: The present study showed that an auditory temporal training aiming at the rehabilitation and improvement of the auditory abilities of temporal ordering and resolution is effective. It also showed the training efficacy concerning: the perception of short inter-stimuli intervals presented quickly; the latency of MMN responses; as well as the reduction of error processes in the writing of children who presented orthographic errors of the voiced-voiceless type

No description available.

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is a common treatment for the neurological autoimmune diseases multiple sclerosis, multifocal motor neuropathy, myasthenia gravis, and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. However, there is scant literature regarding the psychological effects of this treatment on quality of life (QOL). Using illness intrusiveness theory and personal control theory, this correlational, cross-sectional study examined the relationship between the IVIG treatment experience and QOL in neurological autoimmune patients. Surveys were employed to collect data from 79 patients at a neurological infusion center in Phoenix, AZ. Quantitative analyses included correlation, multiple regression, and mediation analyses to determine whether (a) IVIG treatment experience predicted QOL measured by 10 Neuro-QOL scales, (b) illness intrusiveness mediated the relationship between IVIG treatment experience and QOL, and (c) personal control mediated the relationship between illness intrusiveness and QOL. IVIG treatment experience predicted QOL in 1 Neuro-QOL subscale; illness intrusiveness mediated 9 of the Neuro-QOL subscales using bias-corrected bootstrapping for statistical significance; and personal control did not mediate the relationship between illness intrusiveness and QOL. These results may affect social change by increasing the understanding of physicians, nurses, and patients regarding the psychosocial impact of IVIG treatment. Results from the study may provide insight for interventions to assist patients in adjusting to this form of treatment.

The present thesis employed event-related potentials, the minute responses of the brain, to examine the differences in processing of increases and decreases in auditory intensity. The manner in which intensity was manipulated (i.e., whether it represented physical or psychological change) varied across the studies of the thesis. Study 1 investigated the processing of physical intensity change during wakefulness and natural sleep. An oddball paradigm (80 dB standard, 90 dB increment, 60 dB decrement) was presented to subjects during the waking state and during sleep. The increment elicited a larger deviant-related negativity and P3a than the decrement in the waking state. During sleep, only the increment deviant continued to elicit ERPs related to the detection of change. The waking and sleeping findings support the notion that increases in intensity are more salient to an observer. Studies 2 and 3 of this thesis determined the degree to which this differential salience could be attributed to the fact that intensity increments result in increased activation of the change and transient detection systems while intensity decrements result in greater activation of only the change detection system. In order to address this question, an alternating intensity pattern was employed (HLHLHLHL) with deviants created by the repetition of a tone in the sequence (HLHLHHHL) that violated the expectancy for a higher (psychological decrements) or lower intensity tone (psychological increments). Because deviant stimuli were physically identical to preceding standards, this manipulation should not have led to increased output of the transient detection system (N1 enhancement), permitting isolation of the output of the change detection system (Mismatch Negativity, MMN). The findings of these studies indicated that psychological increments resulted in shorter latency and larger amplitude MMNs than psychological decrements and that these differences could not be explained by the physical differences between deviant stimuli or temporal integration. This thesis provides convincing evidence that stimuli representing increments in intensity result in faster and more robust change detection. Further, the increased salience of increment stimuli cannot be solely explained by the contribution of transient detector activation, as it persists even when deviance-related processing is isolated to the change detection system.

Auditiv mismatch negativity (MMN) är en neurologisk hjärnrespons som visar hur känslig hjärnan är för auditiva förändringar. Perceptuell load teorin argumenterar att krävande visuella sökuppgifter eliminerar auditiva distraktorer från att bearbetas i arbetsminnet. Syftet är att observera event-related potential (ERP) händelser för att se om avvikande ljud exkluderas under hög visuell belastning. Ett korsmodalt uppmärksamhetstest utfördes där deltagarna (N = 26) fick utföra en visuell sökuppgift med två svårighetsgrader samtidigt som de skulle ignorera tonfrekvenser som spelades upp i bakgrunden. Resultatet visade auditiv MMN-respons under både låg och hög visuell belastning. Det fanns ingen tydlig skillnad på MMN mellan låg och hög belastning. Hörselcortex registrerade en avvikande ton i oddball och att samma ton fanns i kontroll-upplägget. Argument för att distraktorer bearbetas under kontrollerad uppmärksamhet. Ytterligare studier med större stickprov och olika ljudfrekvenser, naturliga och icke naturliga, krävs för att se hur ljuden påverkar bearbetningsprocessen.