Neurophysiology of Everyday Life Group, Department of Psychology, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
Neuropsychology Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
Behav Res Methods. 2021 Oct;53(5):2025-2036. doi: 10.3758/s13428-021-01538-0. Epub 2021 Mar 15.
Most research investigating auditory perception is conducted in controlled laboratory settings, potentially restricting its generalizability to the complex acoustic environment outside the lab. The present study, in contrast, investigated auditory attention with long-term recordings (> 6 h) beyond the lab using a fully mobile, smartphone-based ear-centered electroencephalography (EEG) setup with minimal restrictions for participants. Twelve participants completed iterations of two variants of an oddball task where they had to react to target tones and to ignore standard tones. A rapid variant of the task (tones every 2 s, 5 min total time) was performed seated and with full focus in the morning, around noon and in the afternoon under controlled conditions. A sporadic variant (tones every minute, 160 min total time) was performed once in the morning and once in the afternoon while participants followed their normal office day routine. EEG data, behavioral data, and movement data (with a gyroscope) were recorded and analyzed. The expected increased amplitude of the P3 component in response to the target tone was observed for both the rapid and the sporadic oddball. Miss rates were lower and reaction times were faster in the rapid oddball compared to the sporadic one. The movement data indicated that participants spent most of their office day at relative rest. Overall, this study demonstrated that it is feasible to study auditory perception in everyday life with long-term ear-EEG.
大多数研究听觉感知的实验都是在受控的实验室环境中进行的，这可能限制了它们在实验室之外的复杂声学环境中的通用性。相比之下，本研究使用基于智能手机的完全移动的耳中心脑电图（EEG）设置，在实验室之外进行了长时间（超过 6 小时）的听觉注意力的研究，对参与者的限制最小。12 名参与者完成了两种异类任务变体的迭代，他们必须对目标音做出反应，并忽略标准音。在受控条件下，快速变体任务（每 2 秒一个音，总时间 5 分钟）在上午、中午和下午分别进行，参与者坐姿并全神贯注。在上午和下午各进行一次的零星变体任务（每 1 分钟一个音，总时间 160 分钟），而参与者则按照他们正常的办公日惯例进行。记录和分析了 EEG 数据、行为数据和运动数据（带有陀螺仪）。观察到，无论是快速异类还是零星异类，对目标音的 P3 成分的预期振幅都增加了。快速异类的错误率较低，反应时间较快。运动数据表明，参与者在大部分办公时间都处于相对静止状态。总的来说，这项研究表明，使用长期耳 EEG 来研究日常生活中的听觉感知是可行的。
