Violations of newly-learned predictions elicit two distinct P3 components

Abstract

Sensitivity to the environment's sequential regularities makes it possible to predict upcoming sensory events. To investigate the mechanisms that monitor such predictions, we recorded scalp EEG as subjects learned to reproduce sequences of motions. Each sequence was seen and reproduced four successive times, with occasional deviant directions of motion inserted into otherwise-familiar and predictable sequences. To dissociate the neural activity associated with encoding new items from that associated with detecting sequence deviants, we measured ERPs to new, familiar, and deviant sequence items. Both new and deviant sequence items evoked enhanced P3 responses, with the ERP to deviant items encompassing both P300-like and Novelty P3-like subcomponents with distinct timing and topographies. These results confirm that the neural response to deviant items differs from that to new items, and that unpredicted events in newly-learned sequences are identified by processes similar to those monitoring stable sequential regularities.

Anterior Cingulate Cortex for Consistency Curation

“…In well-known oddball experiments, ACC activation is quite generally observed when an expectation, e.g., in a stream of stimuli, is violated; this can be simply described as surprise (Crottaz-Herbette and Menon, 2006). Looking in detail, the evoked potentials for new versus deviant items in a sequence are similar but differ in their fine timing and topographies (Noyce and Sekuler, 2014).…”

Defining attention from an auditory perspective

“…Attention also affects how objects are encoded into memory. Attended objects tend to be remembered (Maryott et al, 2011 ; Noyce & Sekuler, 2014b ); relatedly, events that disrupt attention also impair recall of events surrounding the disruption (Lim et al, 2019 ). Even when an object is attended, not all of its features will get into memory: attended features are encoded more robustly (e.g., Noyce et al, 2016 ).…”