Preliminary analysis on the association between neural activity on an auditory selective attention task and the perceived socioeconomic level on young adults from Buenos Aires, Argentina

Selective attention is a cognitive process that prioritizes relevant information while inhibiting distractions. Previous evidence in children with low socioeconomic status (SES), shows similar neural activity related to relevant and irrelevant information, possibly reflecting an adaptive response to the specific characteristics of their environments. However, whether this pattern is present in the young adults is unclear. We implemented an auditory selective attention paradigm in which a group of young adults from Buenos Aires simultaneously listened to two short stories (one in each ear) while attending to only one of them. Participants also completed a sociodemographic questionnaire. Neural activity was recorded using an EEG. We expected participants from low SES backgrounds to show a smaller amplitude difference between target and non-target conditions in specific ERP components. Preliminary results (N=33) suggest an association between perceived SES (MacArthur scale) and the N2, but not the P2 component. The observed trend goes in line with developmental literature suggesting that participants reporting lower SES might show a specific sensitivity to distractors, reflected in smaller differences in neural activity between target and non-target. More participants are required to further confirm our results. In addition, other relevant variables such as unpredictability and chaos were collected and might help to clarify the specific mechanisms underlying this association.