Positive Effects of Noise on Cognitve Performance: Explaining the Moderate Brain Arousal Model

• Abstract in Undetermined Distractors and environmental noise has long been regarded as detrimental for cognitive processing. In particular children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are extremely sensitive to distraction from task irrelevant stimuli. However, recently it has been shown that exposure to auditory white noise facilitated cognitive performance in ADHD children whereas control children performed worse. The moderate brain arousal (MBA) model (Sikström & Söderlund, 2007) suggest that this selective effect of noise adheres from stochastic resonance (SR). This phenomenon occurs in any system where a signal plus noise requires passing of a threshold, for example the all or none nature of action potentials in neural systems. The basic assumption is that noise in the environment, through the perceptual system introduces noise in the neural system. According to the SR phenomenon moderate noise is beneficial for cognitive performance whereas both excessive and insufficient noise is detrimental. The MBA model suggests that the amount of noise required for optimal cognitive performance is modulated by levels of dopamine. The model predictes that low dopamine children, as in ADHD, require more noise compared to high dopamine children for optimal cognitive performance; in short, when dopamine is low noise is good.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

ADHD

noise

episodic memory

dopamine

model

Publication and Content Type

kon (subject category)

ref (subject category)