Noise-Induced Arousal and Breadth of Attention

Abstract

The effect of intermittent noise upon attention span was investigated in two experiments. In Exp. 1, 4 levels of noise intensity were used (no noise, 75 db, 85 db, and 100 db). The task was a serial anticipation task in which the relevant stimuli were 4-letter words located in the center of a projected slide. 3-letter words were peripherally located; the peripheral words were not mentioned to Ss. Ss in the 85-db and the 100-db conditions learned fewer of the peripheral words as indicated by a free-recall test than Ss in the no-noise and the 75-db conditions, indicating a narrowing of attention due to the higher noise levels. In Exp. 2, Ss operating under noise (85 db) performed significantly better on the Stroop Color-Word Test than did Ss operating under no noise, again indicating a focusing of attention due to noise-induced arousal. The results are consistent with the proposal of several authors that increasing emotional arousal causes a narrowing of attention.

Speech recoding in silent reading

“…Furthermore, conflicting results are obtained on the Stroop test when arousal is manipulated by the use of noise (Broadbent, in press) or drugs. O'Malley and Poplawsky (1971) reported an improvement in performance for incongruent stimuli in 85-dB noise, but there was a similar improvement in color naming. Hartley and Adams (1974) found increased interference in lOO-dB noise in their first experiment, but in a second experiment, where exposure duration and practice were assessed independently, the brief exposure to 95-dB noise was beneficial and decreased interference, and the long exposure increased interference, suggesting a cumulative adverse effect of noise.…”

Understanding noise stress-induced cognitive impairment in healthy adults and its implications for schizophrenia

“…[54] The Stroop task is a much more complex task that measures inhibition of pre-potent response along with selective attention and processing speed and is seen as a "general indicator of cognitive fl exibility and control" [p. 231, 50]. Some studies report less interference (reduced cognitive inhibition) as a result of noise, [3,61] while others fi nd no effect. [56] This inconsistency may be partly due to the varied duration and characteristics of the noise used.…”

Low-Arousal Speech Noise Improves Performance in N-Back Task: An ERP Study

“…Several studies have suggested that the noise disruption effects on task performance may depend on the level of arousal induced by noises [17]–[18]. For example, compared to silent environment, participants performed better in the Rod-and-Frame test and in the Stroop test when listening to low arousal noises [19]–[20]. A popular theory explaining the noise effects on arousal is the attentional narrowing mechanism [21].…”

“…A popular theory explaining the noise effects on arousal is the attentional narrowing mechanism [21]. It suggests that noises increase arousal and the increased arousal, in turn, decreases the breadth of attention [19], [22]. More specifically, when at a relatively low arousal level, proper attentional narrowing helps to exclude irrelevant cues and thus would facilitate performances.…”