The present study measured scalp potentials in response to low-frequency, narrowband noise bursts changing location in the front, azimuthal plane. At question was whether selective auditory attention has a modulatory effect on the cortical encoding of spatial change, and whether older listeners with normal-hearing thresholds would show depressed cortical representation for spatial changes relative to younger listeners. Young and older normal-hearing listeners were instructed to either passively listen to the stimulus presentation or actively attend to a single location (either 30° left or right of midline) and detect when a noise stream moved to the attended location. Prominent peaks of the electroencephalographic scalp waveforms were compared across groups, location, and attention condition. In addition, an opponent-channel model of spatial coding was performed to capture the effect of attention on spatial-change tuning. Younger listeners not only showed larger responses overall but a greater dynamic range in their response to location changes. Results suggest that younger listeners were acquiring and encoding key spatial cues at early cortical processing areas. On the other hand, each group exhibited modulatory effects of attention to spatial-change tuning, indicating that both younger and older listeners selectively attend to space in a manner that amplifies the available signal.

中文翻译：

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选择性听觉注意力调节皮层对年轻人和老年人声音位置变化的反应

本研究测量了头皮电位以响应低频、窄带噪声突发改变前方位角平面的位置。问题是选择性听觉注意力是否对空间变化的皮层编码有调节作用，以及听力阈值正常的老年听众相对于年轻听众是否会表现出对空间变化的抑制皮层表征。指示年轻和年长听力正常的听众要么被动地听刺激呈现，要么主动关注单个位置（中线左侧或右侧 30°），并检测噪音流何时移动到关注的位置。比较不同组、位置和注意力状况的脑电图头皮波形的突出峰。此外，执行空间编码的对手通道模型以捕捉注意力对空间变化调整的影响。年轻的听众不仅总体上表现出更大的响应，而且在他们对位置变化的响应中表现出更大的动态范围。结果表明，年轻的听众在早期皮层处理区域获取和编码关键空间线索。另一方面，每组都表现出对空间变化调谐的注意力的调节作用，这表明年轻和年长的听众都以放大可用信号的方式选择性地关注空间。结果表明，年轻的听众在早期皮层处理区域获取和编码关键空间线索。另一方面，每组都表现出对空间变化调谐的注意力的调节作用，这表明年轻和年长的听众都以放大可用信号的方式选择性地关注空间。结果表明，年轻的听众在早期皮层处理区域获取和编码关键空间线索。另一方面，每组都表现出对空间变化调谐的注意力的调节作用，这表明年轻和年长的听众都以放大可用信号的方式选择性地关注空间。