Event-related potentials to elementary auditory input in distractible adolescents

Objective The aim of our study was to examine the role of brain activity related to orienting in distractibility. Methods Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in response to intermittently presented, non-attended trains of identical auditory stimuli in otherwise healthy but easily distractible (n=16) and non-distractible (n=16) 15-to-16 year old adolescents. Results In easily distractible adolescents, the first tone in each train elicited a significantly larger N1 response than in non-distractible adolescents. A later positivity in the P3 latency range, which may be correlated with the posterior part of the orienting-related P3, was also significantly larger in distractible than in non-distractible adolescents. Conclusions The findings of this study suggests that the susceptibility to distraction in adolescence is characterized by abnormally strong orienting response as indexed by enhanced N1 component, and that distractible adolescents allocate proportionately more attentional resources to the irrelevant stimuli as indexed by larger parietal P3 amplitude to the first stimulus of each train. Significance The results of this study contribute to elucidation of the functional basis of distractibility.