Editorial: Cognitive hearing science: Investigating the relationship between selective attention and brain activity

Rönnberg, Jerker; Sharma, Anu; Signoret, Carine; Campbell, Tom A.; Sörqvist, Patrik · 2022 · Crossref

DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1098340

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This editorial reviews a collection of research papers investigating the relationship between selective attention and brain activity within the field of cognitive hearing science. The authors address the complexity of attention, distinguishing between sustained, selective, and divided attention, and examine how these processes interact with working memory and executive control. The review synthesizes findings from multi-modal studies using brain imaging and behavioral techniques to understand how sensory and cognitive processing blend, challenging previous assumptions that early auditory processing is modular and independent of higher-level cognitive states. The reviewed studies employ various methodologies, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and behavioral tasks involving speech perception in noise, audiovisual discrimination, and oddball paradigms. Specific investigations include dual-task studies comparing single and bimodal discrimination tasks, EEG analyses of frequency-following responses and event-related potentials during selective listening, and experiments examining the effects of cognitive training and intentional prediction on auditory processing. The research also explores attentional mechanisms in special populations, including adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and older adults, comparing their neural responses to controls. Key findings indicate that supramodal cortical regions are not simple capacity-limited bottlenecks but exhibit intermodal activation patterns during divided attention. Selective attention to visual phonological material affects auditory stimulus representation, and top-down influences can modulate early sensory processing via corticofugal connections. Studies reveal that divided attention interferes with performance by stimulating increased activity in the same cortical areas without compensatory mechanisms. In special populations, adults with ADHD show compromised selective attention and heightened auditory activity to irrelevant sounds under high working memory load, while older adults demonstrate age-related differences in utilizing onset delays for stream segregation, linked to working memory capacity. Additionally, brief audiovisual training can rapidly recalibrate perceptual systems, enhancing auditory spatial attention, and intentional prediction can attenuate mismatch negativity responses. The significance of this work lies in advancing the understanding of how attention relates to intermodal brain processes, particularly under adverse listening conditions. The findings support the "new early filter model," which posits that conscious and intentional processing can penetrate modular brain functions within milliseconds of sound onset. These insights have practical implications for the development of hearing-assistive devices, suggesting that brain-computer interfaces could dynamically steer signal processing based on transient neurocognitive states. Furthermore, the research highlights the potential for cognitive training to improve auditory perception and underscores the role of working memory in age-related hearing difficulties, paving the way for new avenues in cognitive hearing science.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-25; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• attention selective divided
• attention