The Effect of Auditory White Noise on a Three-Stimulus Oddball Task in Attentive and Inattentive Participants

Sammanfattning: Recent findings have shown that listening to white noise can improve memory in people with ADHD or low levels of attention. The current study explored whether white noise can improve performance on a test of sustained attention. Participants (N=19) were divided into an attentive (N=10) and inattentive group (N=9) based on the inattention sub-section of the ASRS (Adult Self-Report ADHD Scale). Participants completed four blocks of a Three-Stimulus Oddball task. Participants completed the task under four conditions: in silence, while listening to continuous white noise, listening to a tone and listening to short bursts of white noise. It was found that the inattentive group performed worse in all four conditions compared to the attentive group by making more errors and having a higher variability in response times. There was no positive effect of listening to white noise or the tone for either group. The results of the study did not lend support towards the hypothesis that inattentive participants benefit from white noise on a test of sustained attention. It was suggested that future research should replicate the current experiment using more participants, more noise manipulations and by increasing motivation through including continuous feedback. It was also suggested that white noise should be tested in conjunction with working memory tasks and test of inhibition and interference handling since impairments in these processes are also implicated in the ADHD symptom profile.