Abstract: To investigate the effects of perceptual load related to flight task on the auditory ERPs, 14 subjects participated in a flight simulation experiment, and were asked to perform the indicator-monitoring task based on different perceptual loads. Auditory probes were simultaneously sent binaurally through headphones under the oddball paradigm. Subjects were instructed to pay attention to the flight simulation task and ignore auditory probes. The auditory ERPs of mismatch negativity (MMN), N1 and P2 were recorded as the evaluation indexes of perceptual load. The results revealed that the frontal-central MMN was affected by perceptual load significantly. The MMN average amplitude was enhanced under the high perceptual load, reflecting an improvement of automation processing ability of task-irrelevant information. Furthermore, the MMN average amplitude was positively correlated with the accuracy rate of detecting abnormal information. The present study indicates that the frontal-central MMN is well sensitive to perceptual load, and it may offers effective electrophysiological reference for the perceptual load assessment in complex flight tasks. However, the results also show that the perceptual load has little effect on the auditory early components N1 and P2 as well as the temporal MMN, which manifest the complicated effects of auditory ERPs on measuring the perceptual load related to flight task to some extent.

Key words: ERPs, perceptual load, mismatch negativity, N1, P2, flight simulation

摘要： 为研究与飞行任务相关的认知负荷对听觉事件相关电位的影响, 采用14名被试者开展飞行模拟实验, 完成基于不同认知负荷水平的仪表监视任务。同时, 由耳机双侧呈现oddball模式下的听觉刺激, 引导被试者关注飞行模拟任务, 忽略听觉刺激。记录听觉事件相关电位失匹配负波(mismatch negativity, MMN)、N1和P2作为认知负荷的评价指标。实验结果表明认知负荷对额叶MMN的影响显著, MMN平均波幅在高认知负荷下显著增强, 表明被试者对任务不相关信息的自动加工能力提高, 且MMN平均波幅与模拟飞行期间被试者对异常信息的正确探测率正相关。提示额中央区的MMN对于与飞行任务相关的认知负荷具有较好的敏感性, 并可能用于复杂飞行任务的认知负荷水平评价。但是, 实验结果也表明认知负荷对早期听觉成分N1, P2以及颞叶MMN的影响不明显, 在一定程度上说明了听觉事件相关电位在评价与飞行任务相关的认知负荷时所表现出的复杂效应。

关键词: 事件相关电位, 认知负荷, 失匹配负波, N1, P2, 飞行模拟