Optimizing the auditory distraction paradigm: Behavioral and event-related potential effects in a lateralized multi-deviant approach

Objective The present study aimed at adapting a multi-deviant auditory distraction paradigm for a comprehensive screening of functions of voluntary and involuntary auditory attention. Methods Subjects performed phonetic discrimination on lateralized consonant–vowel syllables in a distraction paradigm in which task-irrelevant deviances occurred on different syllable features. Behavioral performance and event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured within a multi-deviant (frequency, location, and duration deviants, p = 0.11 each) and a classic single-deviant design (frequency deviants only, p = 0.11). Additionally, ERP effects obtained in an active and a passive multi-deviant condition were compared. Results Behavioral and electrophysiological deviance-related effects were rather similar in the multi-deviant and the single-deviant paradigm. Furthermore, the comparison to the passive listening condition revealed a marked effect of voluntary attention on sensory processing of the syllables. Conclusions The multi-deviant distraction paradigm provides a gain in time compared to the classic single-deviant distraction paradigm which is not accompanied by a loss in the strength of the effects. Inclusion of a passive listening condition enables the additional evaluation of effects of voluntary attention. Significance The present multi-deviant distraction paradigm creates an important step towards a tool suited to investigate involuntary and voluntary attention in selected groups of patients during the processing of task-relevant and task-irrelevant auditory information across different acoustic dimensions.