Investigating the Neurophysiological Precursor of Sustained Attention in the context of Impulsivity

Abstract

Lapses in sustained attention may interfere with daily functioning and have been implicated in disorders such as ADHD. Previous research has linked attenuated P3 amplitude with lapses of sustained attention upon utilizing the visual continuous temporal expectancy task (CTET). Furthermore, the potential relationship between sustained attention and impulsivity may address what happens in the brain prior to a lapse in attention. The present study sought to determine whether P3 predicted target detection in the context of auditory sustained attention and whether P3 was related to impulsivity. However, the results did not provide evidence that P3 exhibits predictive characteristics of auditory sustained attention, unlike previous research in visual modality. Additionally, there is no evidence that auditory sustained attention, reflected in P3 activity, has a relationship with impulsiveness. The same is true when analyzing subgroups divided based on impulsivity. Performance results however show that high impulsive individuals exhibit more false alarms rates than low impulsive individuals, suggesting a potential role of arousal. However, it may also point to a stronger relationship between impulsivity and response inhibition. Future research should improve the present study’s methodology by a more comprehensive P3 analysis, and should consider examining other potential neural precursors of lapses of auditory sustained attention such as CNV component.