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The neurological basis for perceptual awareness remains unclear, and theories disagree as to whether sensory cortices per se generate awareness. Critically, neural activity in the sensory cortices is only a neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) if it closely matches the contents of perceptual awareness. Research in vision and touch suggest that contralateral activity in sensory cortices is an NCC. Similarly, research in hearing with two sound sources (left and right) presented over headphones also suggests that a candidate NCC called the auditory awareness negativity (AAN) matches perceived location of sound. The current study used 13 different sound sources presented over loudspeakers for natural localization cues and measured event‐related potentials to a threshold stimulus in a sound localization task. Preregistered Bayesian mixed models provided moderate evidence against an overall AAN and very strong evidence against its lateralization. Because of issues regarding data quantity and quality, exploratory analyses with aggregated data from multiple loudspeakers were conducted. Results provided moderate evidence for an overall AAN and strong evidence against its lateralization. Nonetheless, the interpretations of these results remain inconclusive. Therefore, future research should reduce the number of conditions and/or test over several sessions to procure a sufficient amount of data. Taken at face value, the results may suggest issues with AAN as an NCC of auditory awareness, as it does not laterally map onto experiences in a free‐field auditory environment, in contrast to the NCCs of vision and touch. In vision and touch, contralateral activity in sensory cortices is a neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) as the neural activity matches lateralized percepts. In hearing, this has not been thoroughly investigated. Here, we measured event‐related potentials from 13 free‐field sound sources. The neural correlate of auditory consciousness (AAN) was found; however, results do not resolve whether AAN is lateralized in response to lateral stimuli. Taken at face value, results may suggest that AAN is not an NCC of lateralized auditory experience to free‐field sound sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We explored EEG correlates of auditory spatial attention in a multi-talker setting. • We analyzed data of 329 participants aged 20–70 years. • Early auditory search was not affected by age-related decline in spatial attention. • Decline occurred in attentional control and task-related focusing of information. Speech comprehension under dynamic cocktail party conditions requires auditory search for relevant speech content and focusing spatial attention on the target talker. Here, we investigated the development of these cognitive processes in a population of 329 participants aged 20–70 years. We used a multi-talker speech detection and perception task in which pairs of words (each consisting of a cue and a target word) were simultaneously presented from lateralized positions. Participants attended to predefined cue words and responded to the corresponding target. Task difficulty was varied by presenting cue and target stimuli at different intensity levels. Decline in performance was observed only in the oldest group (age range 53–70 years) and only in the most difficult condition. The EEG analysis of neurocognitive correlates of lateralized auditory attention and stimulus evaluation (N2ac, LPCpc, alpha power lateralization) revealed age-associated changes in focussing on and processing of task-relevant information, while no such deficits were found on early auditory search and target segregation. Irrespective of age, more challenging listening conditions were associated with an increased allocation of attentional resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attentional biases toward body‐related information for individuals with weight concerns and eating disorders have been well documented. However, our knowledge of the attentional biases toward body‐related information for subjects with physical stature concerns is only at the beginning. And the research on the auditory attentional biases for individuals with physical stature concerns is rare. The identification of attentional biases may provide an impetus for interventions to reduce distress among height dissatisfied individuals. Therefore, the present study investigated the neural mechanisms of attentional bias toward auditory physical stature‐related words among height dissatisfied young males by using event‐related potential recordings. Forty‐four young male participants screened by Negative Physical Self Scale‐Stature Concerns subscale (NPS‐S) were assigned into an experimental group with high levels of height dissatisfaction (HHD) and a control group with low levels of height dissatisfaction (LHD). Task irrelevant auditory tall‐related words, short‐related words and neutral words were presented unilaterally to the participants as the cue in a cue‐target paradigm. Participants were required to respond to the visual target preceded by the task‐irrelevant auditory cue. The results found that significantly larger N2ac was elicited by tall‐related words than short‐related words and neutral words only for the HHD group, but not for the LHD group. LPCpc amplitudes did not differ significantly by the functions of word types and experimental groups. These results suggest an attentional orienting bias toward auditory tall‐related words for young males with high levels of height dissatisfaction. Although visual attentional biases towards body‐related information for subjects with body dissatisfactions have been widely reported, the present findings extend the literature by demonstrating that young males with high levels of physical stature concerns show an attentional orienting bias toward auditory tall‐related words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salient vocalizations, especially aggressive voices, are believed to attract attention due to an automatic threat detection system. However, studies assessing the temporal dynamics of auditory spatial attention to aggressive voices are missing. Using event-related potential markers of auditory spatial attention (N2ac and LPCpc), we show that attentional processing of threatening vocal signals is enhanced at two different stages of auditory processing. As early as 200 ms post-stimulus onset, attentional orienting/engagement is enhanced for threatening as compared to happy vocal signals. Subsequently, as early as 400 ms post-stimulus onset, the reorienting of auditory attention to the center of the screen (or disengagement from the target) is enhanced. This latter effect is consistent with the need to optimize perception by balancing the intake of stimulation from left and right auditory space. Our results extend the scope of theories from the visual to the auditory modality by showing that threatening stimuli also bias early spatial attention in the auditory modality. Attentional enhancement was only present in female and not in male participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]