Learning-related improvements in auditory detection sensitivities correlate with changes in sensory- and decision-related components of the event-related potential

Listener performance in an auditory detection task can improve with practice (Zwislocki, Maire, Feldman, & Rubin, 1958). This could result from a selective attention process and/or sensory plasticity (e.g., if trained stimuli receive increased cortical representation). Here, listeners were trained to detect either an 861-Hz or 1058-Hz tone (counterbalanced across participants) presented in a noise masker. On the following day, high-density EEG was collected while listeners: 1) attempted to detect 861-Hz and 1058-Hz tones in noise at an SNR of -21 dB, and 2) passively heard the same tones presented in quiet. Listeners were significantly better at detecting tones at their trained frequency. In addition, P3 amplitudes were larger for trained than for untrained tones during the detection task. During passive exposure to the same tones, P2 amplitudes were similarly larger for trained than for untrained tones. The difference in P3 amplitudes suggests that training leads to more efficient decisional processing, ...