Possible Neuronal Refractory or Recovery Artifacts Associated with Recording the Mismatch Negativity Response

Walker, Letitia J.; Carpenter, Michael; Downs, Caroline; Cranford, Jerry L.; Stuart, Andrew; Pravica, David W.

doi:10.1055/s-0042-1745619

Cited by 19 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“….” The MMN is argued to be generated not by the low-level acoustic analysis of the deviant (e.g., [s]), but by the contrast between the deviant and the memory representation of the standard (for reviews, see Näätänen, Jacobsen, & Winkler, 2005; Näätänen, Paavilainen, Rinne, & Alho, 2007). Detection of a physical contrast is, of course, relatively easy, and many species of nonhuman animals can show MMN responses (see reviews in Harms et al, 2014; Näätänen et al, 2007; Walker et al, 2001). Interestingly, however, the MMN may also be elicited by the detection of differences between highly abstract memory representations.…”

Section: The Mmn and Mmn Asymmetries In Language Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetries in the perception of Mandarin tones: Evidence from mismatch negativity.

Politzer-Ahles

Schluter

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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Most investigations of the representation and processing of speech sounds focus on their segmental representations, and considerably less is known about the representation of suprasegmental phenomena (e.g., Mandarin tones). Here we examine the mismatch negativity (MMN) response to the contrast between Mandarin Tone 3 (T3) and other tones using a passive oddball paradigm. Because the MMN response has been shown to be sensitive to the featural contents of speech sounds in a way that is compatible with theories of phonological representations, here, we test the predictions of such theories regarding suprasegmental phenomena. Assuming T3 to be underspecified in Mandarin (because it has variable surface representations and low pitch), we predicted that an asymmetric MMN response would be elicited when T3 is contrasted with another tone. In 2 of our 3 experiments, this was observed, but in non-Mandarin-speaking participants as well as native speakers, suggesting that the locus of the effect was perceptual (acoustic or phonetic) rather than phonological. In a third experiment, the predicted asymmetry was limited to native speakers. These results highlight the importance of distinguishing phonological and perceptual contributions to MMN asymmetries, but also demonstrate a role of abstract phonological representations in which certain information is underspecified in long-term memory.

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Section: The Mmn and Mmn Asymmetries In Language Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetries in the perception of Mandarin tones: Evidence from mismatch negativity.

Politzer-Ahles

Schluter

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Refractoriness affects the ERPs to the stimuli. Consequently, the traditional MMN procedure that uses (physically different) standards and deviants from the same block might misestimate an MMN contribution reflecting automatic sensory memory processes, because of such differential states of refractoriness of respectively recruited neural populations (Jacobsen, Horenkamp, & Schröger, 2003; Jacobsen & Schröger, 2001; 2003; Näätänen & Alho, 1997; Schröger, 1997; Schröger & Wolff, 1996; Walker et al, 2001).…”

Section: Improvement Of the Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Input to Verbal Working Memory

Jacobsen

Schröger

2004

Experimental Psychology

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Working memory uses central sound representations as an informational basis. The central sound representation is the temporally and feature-integrated mental representation that corresponds to phenomenal perception. It is used in (higher-order) mental operations and stored in long-term memory. In the bottom-up processing path, the central sound representation can be probed at the level of auditory sensory memory with the mismatch negativity (MMN) of the event-related potential. The present paper reviews a newly developed MMN paradigm to tap into the processing of speech sound representations. Preattentive vowel categorization based on F1-F2 formant information occurs in speech sounds and complex tones even under conditions of high variability of the auditory input. However, an additional experiment demonstrated the limits of the preattentive categorization of language-relevant information. It tested whether the system categorizes complex tones containing the F1 and F2 formant components of the vowel /a/ differently than six sounds with nonlanguage-like F1-F2 combinations. From the absence of an MMN in this experiment, it is concluded that no adequate vowel representation was constructed. This shows limitations of the capability of preattentive vowel categorization.

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The Mechanisms and Meaning of the Mismatch Negativity

Fishman

2013

Brain Topogr

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The mismatch negativity (MMN) is a pre-attentive auditory event-related potential (ERP) component that is elicited by a change in a repetitive acoustic pattern. It is obtained by subtracting responses evoked by frequent 'standard' sounds from responses evoked by infrequent 'deviant' sounds that differ from the standards along some acoustic dimension, e.g., frequency, intensity, or duration, or abstract feature. The MMN has been attributed to neural generators within the temporal and frontal lobes. The mechanisms and meaning of the MMN continue to be debated. Two dominant explanations for the MMN have been proposed. According to the "neural adaptation" hypothesis, repeated presentation of the standards results in adapted (i.e., attenuated) responses of feature-selective neurons in auditory cortex. Rare deviant sounds activate neurons that are less adapted than those stimulated by the frequent standard sounds, and thus elicit a larger 'obligatory' response, which yields the MMN following the subtraction procedure. In contrast, according to the "sensory memory" hypothesis, the MMN is a 'novel' (non-obligatory) ERP component that reflects a deviation between properties of an incoming sound and those of a neural 'memory trace' established by the preceding standard sounds. Here, we provide a selective review of studies which are relevant to the controversy between proponents of these two interpretations of the MMN. We also present preliminary neurophysiological data from monkey auditory cortex with potential implications for the debate. We conclude that the mechanisms and meaning of the MMN are still unresolved and offer remarks on how to make progress on these important issues.

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Possible Neuronal Refractory or Recovery Artifacts Associated with Recording the Mismatch Negativity Response

Cited by 19 publications

References 46 publications

Asymmetries in the perception of Mandarin tones: Evidence from mismatch negativity.

Asymmetries in the perception of Mandarin tones: Evidence from mismatch negativity.

Input to Verbal Working Memory

The Mechanisms and Meaning of the Mismatch Negativity

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