Preventing distraction: Assessing stimulus-specific and general effects of the predictive cueing of deviant auditory events

Rare irregular sounds (deviants) embedded into a regular sound sequence have large potential to draw attention to themselves (distraction). It has been previously shown that distraction, as manifested by behavioral response delay, and the P3a and reorienting negativity (RON) event-related potentials, could be reduced when the forthcoming deviant was signaled by visual cues preceding the sounds. In the present study, we investigated the type of information used in the prevention of distraction by manipulating the information content of the visual cues preceding the sounds. Cues could signal the specific variant of the forthcoming deviant, or they could just signal that the next tone was a deviant. We found that stimulus-specific cue information was used in reducing distraction. The results also suggest that early P3a and RON index processes related to the specific deviating stimulus feature, whereas late P3a reflects a general distraction-related process.

Research highlights
► Rare, task-irrelevant stimulus changes in a sound sequence lead to distraction.
► Visual cues signaling the rare changes may prevent distraction.
► Prevention may be based on specific preparation or general narrowing of focus.
► Specific information on the nature of sound change is used to prevent distraction.
► Stimulus-specific processing is probably related to early P3a and RON.