A mismatch negativity study of local–global auditory processing

Abstract

We used mismatch negativity (MMN) to examine structural encoding of local and global auditory patterns in perceptual memory. Unlike previous MMN studies of local-global auditory perceptual organization that used interval-contour stimuli, here we presented hierarchical stimuli in which local pattern organization formed global patterns. Importantly, our stimuli allowed independent manipulation of the two structural levels. In separate blocks, participants were exposed to frequent local standard patterns and rare local deviant patterns, or to frequent global standard patterns and rare global deviant patterns. Within each deviant pattern, the variation from the standard pattern could occur at onset (early), towards the end of the pattern (late) or over both time windows (both). To isolate pattern indexing at one level, the other level continuously changed (e.g., in a global standard block, local elements varied trial-by-trial). MMN was found only for global deviant patterns, and only when deviation occurred late in the pattern. In a separate behavioral experiment, global deviants were detected more often than local ones, although initial similarity followed by a late deviation from the standard pattern was not required for explicit deviant detection (as with the MMN). This report demonstrates neural structural encoding for global information, when independently manipulated from local information. Furthermore, it extends previous MMN findings that have revealed indexing of complex abstract auditory information to the realm of hierarchical perceptual organization.

Auditory priming of frequency and temporal information: Effects of lateralised presentation

“…Our failure to find processing asymmetries for fast or slow temporal ranges converges with previous ERP studies using similar hierarchical stimuli (List et al, 2007;Sanders & Poeppel, 2006). However, it conflicts with the notion that the hemispheres are inevitably asymmetrically recruited for temporal processing.…”

“…Recently, we employed the Fast-Slow Stimuli in an electrophysiology experiment of implicit local-global processing, using a mismatch negativity design (List, Justus, Robertson & Bentin, 2007). Conceding that event-related potentials (ERPs) are perhaps not best-suited to detect lateralization of function, we failed to find any evidence for asymmetric local-global processing.…”

The Five Myths of MMN: Redefining How to Use MMN in Basic and Clinical Research

“…Early in the sense that MMN peaks prior to non-modality-specific attention-related ERP components (e.g., N2b and P3b components), and that MMN elicitation is not dependent upon attention-related components to be elicited. However, MMN may be thought of as a relatively late occurring process in the sense that other processes precede deviance detection, relevant to establishing the standard either by stimulus-driven or top-down processing (List et al, 2007; Sussman, 2005; Sussman, 2007; Sussman et al, 2002; Panesse et al, submitted; Sussman, Ritter, Vaughan, 1998a; Sussman, Ritter, Vaughan, 1998b; Sussman, Bregman, et al, 2005; Sussman, 2005; Müller et al, 2005; Nager et al, 2003; Winkler et al, 2005; Yabe et al, 2001). MMN elicitation may also be considered a ‘late’ process for the auditory system because it has been shown to be more closely linked to task goals, to behavioral performance, than earlier elicited components or to the later P3a component (e.g., Tiitinen et al, 2004; Chen & Sussman, 2013).…”

Repetition of complex frequency-modulated sweeps enhances neuromagnetic responses in the human auditory cortex

“…In the study by Tervaniemi et al (1994), both the ascending and the repeated tone elicited a mismatch response when presented after the series of descending Shepard tones suggesting that violations of higher-order rules are preattentively encoded. Similarly, in an EEG study where both local and global stimulus features were manipulated, MMN was mainly observed for global deviation (List et al, 2007). The extraction of abstract features goes beyond frequency-based rules as demonstrated by a further EEG study (Paavilainen et al, 2003).…”