Effects of an Auditory Stimulus on the Nervous System and Selective Attention
File(s)
Date
2017Author
Kefer, Samuel
Daneshgar, Alex
Katib, Nora
Razdolsky, Marjey
Zaifman, Julie
Publisher
Journal of Advanced Student Sciences (JASS)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Several theories have been proposed in an attempt to explain human attention, all
accentuating the complexity in processing information. More specifically, the concept of
inattentional blindness depicts how the limited number of cognitive resources of the human brain
can be dominated by a specific stimuli, leading to an individual’s failure to notice a second
stimuli. This concept has been tested on its own, but not in conjunction with an onset of a stress
response. During a stressful situation, the sympathetic nervous system looks to allocate the
body’s resources to eliminate the identified stressor. Based on the known physiological changes
of an activated sympathetic response, electroencephalography, galvanic skin response, and a
pulse oximeter were used in data collection. The hypothesis of this study was that an auditory
stimulus of gunshots sounds would elicit an increase in heart rate, skin conductance, and beta
wave frequency via an activated sympathetic nervous system, making one less likely to
experience inattentional blindness. Two of the three physiological tests did not support the
hypothesis, in that gunshots did not induce a statistically significant increase in heart rate or beta
wave frequency; however, skin conductance did show a statistically significant increase as a
result of the gunshots. Furthermore, there was no statistically significant difference between the
experimental and control groups in their likelihood to experience inattentional blindness.
Subject
stress
fear
emotions
attention
Physiological Arousal
Heart Rate
EEG
Skin Conductance
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/81876Description
An article that appeared in JASS, issue 2017