Localizing sensory and cognitive systems for pre-attentive visual deviance detection: An sLORETA analysis of the data of Kimura et al. (2009)

Rare incompatible stimuli evoke visual mismatch negativity in a flanker task

In the flanker task, the behavioral performance for incompatible stimuli is worse in the mostly compatible (rare) condition than in the equiprobable condition. Furthermore, incompatible stimuli evoke visual mismatch negativity (VMMN) when comparing the rare and equiprobable conditions. Compatible and incompatible stimuli differ in terms of their shape and type. This study aimed to examine whether VMMN evoked by rare incompatible stimuli were associated with the shape or type of the stimulus. In a modified version of the flanker task, stimuli were manipulated by two shapes (typical or peculiar) and two types (compatible or incompatible): typical compatible stimuli (< <  <  <  < and >  >  >  > >), typical incompatible stimuli (> >  <  >  > and <  <  >  < <), peculiar compatible stimuli (+ <  <  <  + and +  >  >  > +), and peculiar incompatible stimuli (+ >  <  >  + and +  <  >  < +). In the rare condition, typical incompatible, peculiar compatible, and peculiar incompatible stimuli were presented with a probability of 10%, whereas all the stimuli were presented equally in the equiprobable condition. Right posterior negativity from 200 to 250 ms was significantly more negative in the rare condition than in the equiprobable condition for typical and peculiar incompatible stimuli; however, this difference was not observed for peculiar compatible stimuli. VMMN was significantly more negative for typical and peculiar incompatible stimuli than for peculiar compatible stimuli, and was not significantly different between typical and peculiar incompatible stimuli. These findings suggest that VMMN for incompatible stimuli is associated with the type rather than the shape of the stimulus.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the visual mismatch negativity in schizophrenia

Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event-related potential component automatically elicited by events that violate predictions based on prior events. To elicit this component, researchers use stimulus repetition to induce predictions, and the MMN is obtained by subtracting the brain response to rare or unpredicted stimuli from that of frequent stimuli. Under the Predictive Processing framework, one increasingly popular interpretation of the mismatch response postulates that MMN represents a prediction error. In this context, the reduced MMN amplitude to auditory stimuli has been considered a potential biomarker of Schizophrenia, representing a reduced prediction error and the inability to update the mental model of the world based on the sensory signals. It is unclear, however, whether this amplitude reduction is specific for auditory events or if the visual MMN reveals a similar pattern in schizophrenia spectrum disorder. This review and meta-analysis aimed to summarise the available literature on the vMMN in schizophrenia. A systematic literature search resulted in 10 eligible studies that resulted in a combined effect size of g = -.63, CI [-.86, -.41], reflecting lower vMMN amplitudes in patients. These results are in line with the findings in the auditory domain. This component offers certain advantages, such as less susceptibility to overlap with components generated by attentional demands. Future studies should use vMMN to explore abnormalities in the Predictive Processing framework in different stages and groups of the SSD and increase the knowledge in the search for biomarkers in schizophrenia.

The effects of positions on deviant processing in mostly incompatible blocks in the flanker task

It is assumed that focused attention is induced by mostly incompatible (MI) blocks in the flanker task. This study aimed to examine the differences in deviant processing between positions of a stimulus in MI blocks. Thirty-nine adults participated in this study. Compatible and incompatible stimuli were classified into three types: typical (central and surrounding colors: black), central-deviant (central: red; surrounding: black), and surrounding-deviant (central: black; surrounding: red). Rare and equiprobable conditions were set for MI blocks. Central- and surrounding-deviant stimuli were presented with low probabilities in the rare condition and with identical probabilities to that of typical stimuli in the equiprobable condition. Deviant processing was evaluated by comparing between event-related potentials in rare and equiprobable conditions. The posterior negativity from 120 to 170 ms (i.e., N1) for central-deviant stimuli was significantly more negative in the rare condition than in the equiprobable condition, whereas there was no difference for surrounding-deviant stimuli. Conversely, the posterior negativity from 180 to 230 ms for both stimuli was significantly more negative in the rare condition than in the equiprobable condition, and the difference (i.e., visual mismatch negativity) was similar in central- and surrounding-deviant stimuli. These findings suggest that focused attention induced by MI blocks leads to differences in deviant processing between central and surrounding areas during the N1 time range. Therefore, evaluations of deviant processing can help examine processing in central and surrounding areas independently and are valuable for understanding cognitive control mechanisms in the flanker tasks.

Automatic Change Detection in Interwoven Sequences: A Visual Mismatch Negativity Study

In this study, we investigated whether the cognitive system, known to be able to register regular visual event sequences and the violation of these sequences automatically, had the capacity of processing two sequences simultaneously. To this end, we measured the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) component of ERPs as interwoven event sequences simultaneously presented to the left and right side of the screen. One of the sequences consisted of geometric patterns (diamonds); the other, photographs of human faces. In successive cycles, parts of the stimuli vanished and then re-appeared (the OFF/ON method). The vanishing parts served as either standard (frequently vanishing parts) or infrequent (deviant) events, but these events were task-irrelevant. The 20 adult participants (age 21.40 ± 2.72 years) performed a visual tracking task, with the OFF/ON task being a passive oddball paradigm. According to the results, both OFF and ON events, and both diamond and face stimuli elicited the vMMN component, showing that the system underlying this activity is capable of processing two event sequences if the sequences consist of fairly different kind of objects as stimuli. The sLORETA analysis showed that the source of vMMN was more frequent contralaterally to the deviant event, and the sources comprised loci from ventral and dorsal structures, as well as some anterior loci.

Contingency learning on the proportional congruency effect of the Stroop task is manifest in deviant processing

OBJECTIVE

The proportion congruency effect has been reported in interference tasks. The mostly congruent block is the frequent condition, and the mostly incongruent block is the rare condition for congruent stimuli, whereas the mostly congruent block is the rare condition, and the mostly incongruent block is the frequent condition for incongruent stimuli. This study examined the cognitive mechanism underlying the proportion congruency effect in the two-choice Stroop task using event-related potential components related to deviant processing.

METHOD

Stimuli were Kanji characters meaning 'red' and 'blue' painted by congruent and incongruent colors. Participants were required to provide a two-choice button-press response corresponding to the colors. The congruent and incongruent stimuli were presented on rare (20%) and frequent (80%) conditions.

RESULTS

N1 was enhanced in the rare condition relative to the frequent condition for both congruent and incongruent stimuli. The results suggested that colors and characters were not processed independently in the N1 time range, which made selective attention to the relevant feature difficult. Posterior negativity from 200 to 250 ms was also different between rare and frequent conditions, indicating the presence of visual mismatch negativity for congruent and incongruent stimuli. It was considered that the distinction between congruent and incongruent stimuli was evident in mostly incongruent blocks, indicating that the selective attention mechanism was not actively engaged.

CONCLUSION

The proportion congruency effect was explained by contingency learning rather than selective attention in the present task. The cognitive mechanisms underlying the proportion congruency effect are reflected by deviant event-related potential components.

Autistic traits and event-related potentials in the general population: A scoping review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Differences in short and long-latency Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) can help us infer abnormalities in brain processing, considering early and later stages of stimuli processing across tasks and conditions. In autism research, the adult population remains largely understudied compared to samples at early stages of development. In this context, this scoping review briefly summarises what has been described in community and subclinical adult samples of autism.

METHOD

The current scoping review and meta-analysis includes 50 records (N = 1652) and comprehensively explores short and long-latency ERP amplitudes and their relationship with autistic traits in adult community samples.

RESULTS

This meta-analysis identified, with small to medium effect sizes, distinctive patterns in late ERP amplitudes, indicating enhanced responses to visual stimuli and the opposite patterns to auditory tasks in the included sample. Additionally, a pattern of higher amplitudes was also found for the component P3b in autistic traits.

DISCUSSION

Differential effects in visual and auditory domains are explored in light of the predictive processing framework for Autism. It remains possible that different brain mechanisms operate to explain symptoms related with different sensory modalities. P3b is discussed as a possible component of interest in future studies as it revealed a more robust effect for differentiating severity in the expression of autistic traits in adulthood.

A multimodal cortical network of sensory expectation violation revealed by fMRI

The brain is subjected to multi-modal sensory information in an environment governed by statistical dependencies. Mismatch responses (MMRs), classically recorded with EEG, have provided valuable insights into the brain's processing of regularities and the generation of corresponding sensory predictions. Only few studies allow for comparisons of MMRs across multiple modalities in a simultaneous sensory stream and their corresponding cross-modal context sensitivity remains unknown. Here, we used a tri-modal version of the roving stimulus paradigm in fMRI to elicit MMRs in the auditory, somatosensory and visual modality. Participants (N = 29) were simultaneously presented with sequences of low and high intensity stimuli in each of the three senses while actively observing the tri-modal input stream and occasionally reporting the intensity of the previous stimulus in a prompted modality. The sequences were based on a probabilistic model, defining transition probabilities such that, for each modality, stimuli were more likely to repeat (p = .825) than change (p = .175) and stimulus intensities were equiprobable (p = .5). Moreover, each transition was conditional on the configuration of the other two modalities comprising global (cross-modal) predictive properties of the sequences. We identified a shared mismatch network of modality general inferior frontal and temporo-parietal areas as well as sensory areas, where the connectivity (psychophysiological interaction) between these regions was modulated during mismatch processing. Further, we found deviant responses within the network to be modulated by local stimulus repetition, which suggests highly comparable processing of expectation violation across modalities. Moreover, hierarchically higher regions of the mismatch network in the temporo-parietal area around the intraparietal sulcus were identified to signal cross-modal expectation violation. With the consistency of MMRs across audition, somatosensation and vision, our study provides insights into a shared cortical network of uni- and multi-modal expectation violation in response to sequence regularities.

Crossmodal visual predictions elicit spatially specific early visual cortex activity but later than real visual stimuli

Previous studies have indicated that crossmodal visual predictions are instrumental in controlling early visual cortex activity. The exact time course and spatial precision of such crossmodal top-down influences on the visual cortex have been unknown. In the present study, participants were exposed to audiovisual combinations comprising one of two sounds and a Gabor patch either in the top left or in the bottom right visual field. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to these frequent crossmodal combinations (standards) as well as to trials in which the visual stimulus was omitted (omissions) or the visual and auditory stimuli were recombined (deviants). Standards and deviants elicited an ERP between 50 and 100 ms of opposite polarity known as the C1 effect commonly associated with retinotopic processing in early visual cortex. By contrast, a C1 effect was not observed in omission trials. Spatially specific omission and mismatch effects (deviants minus standards) started only later with a latency of 230 ms and 170 ms, respectively. These results suggest that crossmodal visual predictions control visual cortex activity in a spatially specific manner. However, visual predictions do not modulate visual cortex activity with the same timing as visual stimulation activates these areas but rather seem to involve distinct neural mechanisms. This article is part of the theme issue 'Decision and control processes in multisensory perception'.

Interhemispheric transfer time and concussion in adolescents: A longitudinal study using response time and event-related potential measures

Introduction

Concussion in children and adolescents is a public health concern with higher concussion incidence than adults and increased susceptibility to axonal injury. The corpus callosum is a vulnerable location of concussion-related white matter damage that can be associated with short- and long-term effects of concussion. Interhemispheric transfer time (IHTT) of visual information across the corpus callosum can be used as a direct measure of corpus callosum functioning that may be impacted by adolescent concussion with slower IHTT relative to matched controls. Longitudinal studies and studies testing physiological measures of IHTT following concussion in adolescents are lacking.

Methods

We used the N1 and P1 components of the scalp-recorded brain event-related potential (ERP) to measure IHTT in 20 adolescents (ages 12–19 years old) with confirmed concussion and 16 neurologically-healthy control participants within 3 weeks of concussion (subacute stage) and approximately 10 months after injury (longitudinal).

Results

Separate two-group (concussion, control) by two-time (3 weeks, 10 months) repeated measures ANOVAs on difference response times and IHTT latencies of the P1 and N1 components showed no significant differences by group (ps ≥ 0.25) nor by time (ps ≥ 0.64), with no significant interactions (ps ≥ 0.15).

Discussion

Results from the current sample suggest that measures of IHTT may not be strongly influenced at 3 weeks or longitudinally following adolescent concussion using the current IHTT paradigm.

Detection of deviance in Japanese kanji compound words

Reading fluency is based on the automatic visual recognition of words. As a manifestation of the automatic processing of words, an automatic deviance detection of visual word stimuli can be observed in the early stages of visual recognition. To clarify whether this phenomenon occurs with Japanese kanji compounds—since their lexicality is related to semantic association—we investigated the brain response by utilizing three types of deviants: differences in font type, lexically correct or incorrect Japanese kanji compound words and pseudo-kanji characters modified from correct and incorrect compounds. We employed magnetoencephalography (MEG) to evaluate the spatiotemporal profiles of the related brain regions. The study included 22 adult native Japanese speakers (16 females). The abovementioned three kinds of stimuli containing 20% deviants were presented during the MEG measurement. Activity in the occipital pole region of the brain was observed upon the detection of font-type deviance within 250 ms of stimulus onset. Although no significant activity upon detecting lexically correct/incorrect kanji compounds or pseudo-kanji character deviations was observed, the activity in the posterior transverse region of the collateral sulcus (pCoS)—which is a fusiform neighboring area—was larger when detecting lexically correct kanji compounds than when detecting pseudo-kanji characters. Taken together, these results support the notion that the automatic detection of deviance in kanji compounds may be limited to a low-level feature, such as the stimulus stroke thickness.

The Neural Responses of Visual Complexity in the Oddball Paradigm: An ERP Study

This research measured human neural responses to images of different visual complexity levels using the oddball paradigm to explore the neurocognitive responses of complexity perception in visual processing. In the task, 24 participants (12 females) were required to react to images with high complexity for all stimuli. We hypothesized that high-complexity stimuli would induce early visual and attentional processing effects and may elicit the visual mismatch negativity responses and the emergence of error-related negativity. Our results showed that the amplitude of P1 and N1 were unaffected by complexity in the early visual processing. Under the target stimuli, both N2 and P3b components were reported, suggesting that the N2 component was sensitive to the complexity deviation, and the attentional processing related to complexity may be derived from the occipital zone according to the feature of the P3b component. In addition, compared with the low-complexity stimulus, the high-complexity stimulus aroused a larger amplitude of the visual mismatch negativity. The detected error negativity (Ne) component reflected the error detection of the participants’ mismatch between visual complexity and psychological expectations.

The Predictive Role of Low Spatial Frequencies in Automatic Face Processing: A Visual Mismatch Negativity Investigation

Visual processing is thought to function in a coarse-to-fine manner. Low spatial frequencies (LSF), conveying coarse information, would be processed early to generate predictions. These LSF-based predictions would facilitate the further integration of high spatial frequencies (HSF), conveying fine details. The predictive role of LSF might be crucial in automatic face processing, where high performance could be explained by an accurate selection of clues in early processing. In the present study, we used a visual Mismatch Negativity (vMMN) paradigm by presenting an unfiltered face as standard stimulus, and the same face filtered in LSF or HSF as deviant, to investigate the predictive role of LSF vs. HSF during automatic face processing. If LSF are critical for predictions, we hypothesize that LSF deviants would elicit less prediction error (i.e., reduced mismatch responses) than HSF deviants. Results show that both LSF and HSF deviants elicited a mismatch response compared with their equivalent in an equiprobable sequence. However, in line with our hypothesis, LSF deviants evoke significantly reduced mismatch responses compared to HSF deviants, particularly at later stages. The difference in mismatch between HSF and LSF conditions involves posterior areas and right fusiform gyrus. Overall, our findings suggest a predictive role of LSF during automatic face processing and a critical involvement of HSF in the fusiform during the conscious detection of changes in faces.

EEG-based visual deviance detection in freely behaving mice

The mouse is widely used as an experimental model to study visual processing. To probe how the visual system detects changes in the environment, functional paradigms in freely behaving mice are strongly needed. We developed and validated the first EEG-based method to investigate visual deviance detection in freely behaving mice. Mice with EEG implants were exposed to a visual deviant detection paradigm that involved changes in light intensity as standard and deviant stimuli. By subtracting the standard from the deviant evoked waveform, deviant detection was evident as bi-phasic negativity (starting around 70 ms) in the difference waveform. Additionally, deviance-associated evoked (beta/gamma) and induced (gamma) oscillatory responses were found. We showed that the results were stimulus-independent by applying a "flip-flop" design and the results showed good repeatability in an independent measurement. Together, we put forward a validated, easy-to-use paradigm to measure visual deviance processing in freely behaving mice.

Oscillatory signatures of Repetition Suppression and Novelty Detection reveal altered induced visual responses in early deafness

The ability to differentiate between repeated and novel events represents a fundamental property of the visual system. Neural responses are typically reduced upon stimulus repetition, a phenomenon called Repetition Suppression (RS). On the contrary, following a novel visual stimulus, the neural response is generally enhanced, a phenomenon referred to as Novelty Detection (ND). Here, we aimed to investigate the impact of early deafness on the oscillatory signatures of RS and ND brain responses. To this aim, electrophysiological data were acquired in early deaf and hearing control individuals during processing of repeated and novel visual events unattended by participants. By studying evoked and induced oscillatory brain activities, as well as inter-trial phase coherence, we linked response modulations to feedback and/or feedforward processes. Results revealed selective experience-dependent changes on both RS and ND mechanisms. Compared to hearing controls, early deaf individuals displayed: (i) greater attenuation of the response following stimulus repetition, selectively in the induced theta-band (4-7 Hz); (ii) reduced desynchronization following the onset of novel visual stimuli, in the induced alpha and beta bands (8-12 and 13-25 Hz); (iii) comparable modulation of evoked responses and inter-trial phase coherence. The selectivity of the effects in the induced responses parallels findings observed in the auditory cortex of deaf animal models following intracochlear electric stimulation. The present results support the idea that early deafness alters induced oscillatory activity and the functional tuning of basic visual processing.

Deficits in Visual Processing During Hypoxia as Evidenced by Visual Mismatch Negativity

INTRODUCTION: Hypoxia is an ever-present threat in tactical aviation and gained recent attention due to its putative role in physiological episodes. Previous work has demonstrated that hypoxia negatively impacts a variety of sensory, cognitive, and motor systems. In particular, the visual system is one of the earliest systems affected by hypoxia. While the majority of previous studies have relied on self-report and behavioral testing, the use of event-related potentials as a novel tool to monitor responses to low oxygen in humans has recently been investigated. Specifically, ERP components that are evoked passively in response to unattended changes in background sensory stimulation have been explored.METHOD: Subjects (N 28) completed a continuous visuomotor tracking task while EEG was recorded. During the tracking task, a series of standard color checkerboard patterns were presented in the periphery while occasionally a deviant color checkerboard was presented. The visual mismatch negativity (MMN) component was assessed in response to the deviant compared to the standard stimuli. Subjects completed two sessions in counterbalanced order that only differed by the oxygen concentration breathed (10.6% vs. 20.4%).RESULTS: Results demonstrated a significant reduction in the amplitude of the visual MMN under hypoxic compared to normoxic conditions, showing a 50% reduction in amplitude during hypoxia. Our results suggest that during low-oxygen exposure the ability to detect environmental changes and process sensory information is impaired.DISCUSSION: The visual MMN may represent an early and reliable predictor of sensory and cognitive deficits during hypoxia exposure, which may be of great use to the aviation community.Blacker KJ, Seech TR, Funke ME, Kinney MJ. Deficits in visual processing during hypoxia as evidenced by visual mismatch negativity. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2021; 92(5):326332.

Do categorical representations modulate early perceptual or later cognitive visual processing? An ERP study

Encoding of perceptual categorical information has been observed in later cognitive processing like memory encoding and maintenance, starting around 300 ms after stimulus onset (P300). However, it remains open whether categorical information is also encoded in early perceptual processing steps (reflected in the mismatch negativity component; vMMN). The main goal of this study was to assess the influence of categorical information on both early perceptual (i.e., vMMN component) and later cognitive (i.e., P300 component) processing within one paradigm. Hence, we combined an oddball paradigm with a delayed memory task. We used five-dot patterns belonging to different categories even though categorical information is not mirrored in their physical characteristics. Distinct vMMNs were observed for patterns belonging to the same as compared to different categories, suggesting that abstract categorical information was encoded during early perceptual processing. However, inconsistent with prior studies, we observed no effect of categories on the P300, indicating no additional encoding of categorical information in later cognitive stages of processing. Our findings emphasize that the encoding of categorical information depends on specific task demands and hence is more flexible and dynamic than previously suggested.

Automatic detection of peripheral stimuli in shooters and handball players: an event-related potential study

This study examined the practice-related sensitivity of automatic change detection. The visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) component of event-related potentials was compared in handball players and in sport shooters. Whereas effective performance in handball requires processing of a wide visual field, effective performance in shooting requires concentration to a narrow field. Thus, we hypothesized larger sensitivity to peripheral stimuli violating the regularity of sequential stimulation in handball players. Participants performed a tracking task, while task-irrelevant checkerboard patterns (a frequent and an infrequent type) were presented in the lateral parts of the visual field. We analyzed the vMMN, a signature of automatic detection of violating sequential regularity, and sensory components (P1, N1, and P2). We obtained larger vMMN in the handball players' group indicating larger sensitivity to peripheral stimuli. These results suggest the plasticity of the automatic visual processing, i.e., it can adapt to sport-specific demands, and this can be captured even in a short experimental session in the laboratory.

Characterization of Source-Localized EEG Activity During Sustained Deep-Tissue Pain

Musculoskeletal pain is a clinical condition that is characterized by ongoing pain and discomfort in the deep tissues such as muscle, bones, ligaments, nerves, and tendons. In the last decades, it was subject to extensive research due to its high prevalence. Still, a quantitative description of the electrical brain activity during musculoskeletal pain is lacking. This study aimed to characterize intracranial current source density (CSD) estimations during sustained deep-tissue experimental pain. Twenty-three healthy volunteers received three types of tonic stimuli for three minutes each: computer-controlled cuff pressure (1) below pain threshold (sustained deep-tissue no-pain, SDTnP), (2) above pain threshold (sustained deep-tissue pain, SDTP) and (3) vibrotactile stimulation (VT). The CSD in response to these stimuli was calculated in seven regions of interest (ROIs) likely involved in pain processing: contralateral anterior cingulate cortex, contralateral primary somatosensory cortex, bilateral anterior insula, contralateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex and contralateral premotor cortex. Results showed that participants exhibited an overall increase in spectral power during SDTP in all seven ROIs compared to both SDTnP and VT, likely reflecting the differences in the salience of these stimuli. Moreover, we observed a difference is CSD due to the type of stimulus, likely reflecting somatosensory discrimination of stimulus intensity. These results describe the different contributions of neural oscillations within these brain regions in the processing of sustained deep-tissue pain.

Visual mismatch negativity elicited by semantic violations in visual words

The remarkable rapidity and effortlessness of speech perception and word reading by skilled listeners or readers suggest implicit or automatic mechanisms underlying language processing. In speech perception, the implicit mechanisms are reflected by the auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) response, suggesting that phonemic, lexical, semantic, and syntactic information are automatically and rapidly processed in the absence of focused attention. In visual word reading, implicit orthographic and lexical processing are reflected by visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), the visual counterpart of auditory MMN. The semantic processing of spoken words is reflected by MMN. This study investigated whether semantic processing is also reflected by vMMN. For this purpose, visual Chinese words belonging to different semantic categories (color, taste, and action) were presented to participants in oddball paradigms. A set of words belonging to the same semantic category was frequently presented as standards; a word belonging to a different semantic category was presented sporadically as deviant. Participants were instructed to perform a visual cross-change detection task and ignore the words. Significant vMMN was elicited in Experiments 1 to 3, in which the deviant word carried a semantic radical that overtly indicated the word's semantic category information. The vMMNs were most prominent around 260 ms after word onset, were parieto-occipital distributed, and were significantly left-hemisphere lateralized, suggesting rapid semantic processing of the visual words' category-related information. No significant vMMN was elicited in Experiment 4, in which the deviant word did not carry any semantic radicals. Thus, the semantic radical, which has a high frequency of occurrence because it is carried by many words, may be critical for the elicitation of vMMN.

The effect of hand motion and object orientation on the automatic detection of orientation: A visual mismatch negativity study

We investigated the effects of voluntary hand movements and continuously present objects on the automatic detection of deviant stimuli in a passive oddball paradigm. The visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) component of event-related potentials (ERPs) was measured as the index of automatic deviant detection. The stimuli were textures consisting of parallel, oblique bars with frequent (standard) and infrequent (deviant) orientation. Traditional vMMN was measured by the difference between ERPs to frequent (standard) and infrequent (deviant) textures. Additionally, we measured 'genuine' vMMN by comparing the ERPs to deviant and control textures in the equal probability procedure. Compatible and incompatible hand movement directions to the standard texture had no influence on 'traditional' vMMN and elicited no 'genuine' vMMN. However, the deviant texture elicited 'genuine' vMMN if the orientation of a continuously present rectangle was different from the standard (and identical to the deviant) texture orientation. Our results suggest that the direction of voluntary hand movement and the orientation of task-irrelevant visual patterns do not acquire common memory representation, but a continuously present object contributes to the detection of sequential regularity violation.

Stimulus probability affects the visual N700 component of the event-related potential

OBJECTIVE

To examine whether the occipito-temporal visual N700 component of the event-related potential is sensitive to stimulus probabilities.

METHODS

P1, N1, P3, and, in particular, the occipito-temporal N700 component of the event-related potential were analysed in response to frequent and rare non-target letters of a continuous performance task in 200 healthy adolescents. Additionally, amplitude habituation with time was examined for the occipito-temporal N700 and N1 components.

RESULTS

The visual P1, N1, and occipito-temporal N700 components were significantly larger in response to rare letters than to frequent letters, whereas the P3 component demonstrated no amplitude difference. Over time, the occipito-temporal N700 amplitude decreased in response to the rare letters, while the N1 amplitude increased, to both, frequent and rare letters.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides first evidence that the visual occipito-temporal N700 is sensitive to stimulus probabilities, suggesting an enhanced post-processing of rare stimuli in secondary visual areas. The distinct habituation patterns of occipito-temporal N700 and N1 amplitudes distinguish repetition effects on stimulus post-processing (N700) from those on perception (N1).

SIGNIFICANCE

The enhanced N700 component to rare stimuli might reflect an orienting response and underlying attentional processes. The N700 sensitivity to stimulus probabilities should be examined in patient groups with attentional deficits.

Visual mismatch negativity and stimulus-specific adaptation: the role of stimulus complexity

The present study investigated the function of the brain activity underlying the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) event-related potential (ERP) component. Snowflake patterns (complex stimuli) were presented as deviants and oblique bar patterns (simple stimuli) as standards, and vice versa in a passive oddball paradigm. Control (equiprobable) sequences of either complex shape patterns or oblique bar patterns with various orientations were also presented. VMMN appeared as the difference between the ERP to the oddball deviant and the ERP to the control (deviant minus control ERP difference). Apart from the shorter latency of the vMMN to the oblique bar pattern as deviant, vMMN to both deviants was similar, i.e., there was no amplitude difference. We attributed the function of the brain processes underlying vMMN to the detection of the infrequent stimulus type (also represented in memory) instead of a call for further processing (a possibility for acquiring more precise representation) of the deviant. An unexpected larger adaptation (control minus standard ERP difference) to the snowflake pattern was also obtained. We suggest that this was due to the acquisition of a more elaborate memory representation of the more complex stimulus.

Visual mismatch negativity and representational momentum: Their possible involvement in the same automatic prediction

To maintain real-time interaction with a dynamically changing visual object, the brain is thought to automatically predict the next state of the object based on the pattern of its preceding changes. A behavioral phenomenon known as representational momentum (RM: forward displacement of the remembered final state of an object along its preceding change pattern) and an electrophysiological phenomenon known as visual mismatch negativity (VMMN: an event-related brain potential component that is elicited when an object suddenly deviates from its preceding change pattern) have each indicated the existence of such automatic predictive processes. However, there has been no direct investigation of whether or not these phenomena are involved in the same predictive processes. To address this issue, the present study examined the correlation between RM and VMMN by using a hybrid paradigm in which both phenomena can be measured for the rotation of a bar. The results showed that the magnitudes of RM and VMMN were positively correlated; participants who exhibited greater RM along the regular rotation of a bar tended to show greater VMMN in response to sudden reversal embedded in the regular rotation of a bar. This result provides empirical support for the hypothesis that RM and VMMN may be involved in the same automatic predictive processes. Due to the methodological limitations of a correlation analysis, this hypothesis has to be carefully tested in future studies that examine the relationship between RM and VMMN from multiple perspectives.

Automatic Change Detection in Older and Younger Women: A Visual Mismatch Negativity Study

BACKGROUND

In comparison to controlled (attentional) processing, relatively little is known about the age-related changes of the earlier (preattentive) processes. An event-related potential (ERP) index of preattentive (automatic) visual processing, the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) is a good candidate for analyzing age-related differences in the automatic processing of visual events.

OBJECTIVE

So far results concerning age-related changes in vMMN have been equivocal. Our aim was to develop a method resulting in a reliable vMMN in a paradigm short enough to use in the applied field.

METHODS

We investigated an older (mean age: 66.4 years, n = 15) and a younger (mean age: 22.4 years, n = 15) group of healthy women. ERPs were obtained for checkerboard onset patterns in a passive oddball condition (during which participants performed a tracking task). One of the checkerboards was frequent (standard; p = 0.8), and the other was rare (deviant; p = 0.2).

RESULTS

vMMN emerged over posterior locations in the latency range of 100-300 ms in both age groups. The amplitude of the earlier part of the vMMN was similar in the older and the younger participants, but latency was longer in the older group. The later part of the vMMN was slightly diminished in the elderly.

CONCLUSION

Automatic detection of violated sequential regularities, reflected by the vMMN, emerged in the two age groups (earlier vMMN). However, detection of stimulus change, a preattentive visual process delayed in the elderly, and identification of the specific change was compromised in the older participants.

Robust EEG/MEG Based Functional Connectivity with the Envelope of the Imaginary Coherence: Sensor Space Analysis

The brain's functional connectivity (FC) estimated at sensor level from electromagnetic (EEG/MEG) signals can provide quick and useful information towards understanding cognition and brain disorders. Volume conduction (VC) is a fundamental issue in FC analysis due to the effects of instantaneous correlations. FC methods based on the imaginary part of the coherence (iCOH) of any two signals are readily robust to VC effects, but neglecting the real part of the coherence leads to negligible FC when the processes are truly connected but with zero or π-phase (modulus 2π) interaction. We ameliorate this issue by proposing a novel method that implements an envelope of the imaginary coherence (EIC) to approximate the coherence estimate of supposedly active underlying sources. We compare EIC with state-of-the-art FC measures that included lagged coherence, iCOH, phase lag index (PLI) and weighted PLI (wPLI), using bivariate autoregressive and stochastic neural mass models. Additionally, we create realistic simulations where three and five regions were mapped on a template cortical surface and synthetic MEG signals were obtained after computing the electromagnetic leadfield. With this simulation and comparison study, we also demonstrate the feasibility of sensor FC analysis using receiver operating curve analysis whilst varying the signal's noise level. However, these results should be interpreted with caution given the known limitations of the sensor-based FC approach. Overall, we found that EIC and iCOH demonstrate superior results with most accurate FC maps. As they complement each other in different scenarios, that will be important to study normal and diseased brain activity.

Do early neural correlates of visual consciousness show the oblique effect? A binocular rivalry and event-related potential study

When dissimilar images are presented one to each eye, we do not see both images; rather, we see one at a time, alternating unpredictably. This is called binocular rivalry, and it has recently been used to study brain processes that correlate with visual consciousness, because perception changes without any change in the sensory input. Such studies have used various types of images, but the most popular have been gratings: sets of bright and dark lines of orthogonal orientations presented one to each eye. We studied whether using cardinal rival gratings (vertical, 0°, and horizontal, 90°) versus oblique rival gratings (left-oblique, -45°, and right-oblique, 45°) influences early neural correlates of visual consciousness, because of the oblique effect: the tendency for visual performance to be greater for cardinal gratings than for oblique gratings. Participants viewed rival gratings and pressed keys indicating which of the two gratings they perceived, was dominant. Next, we changed one of the gratings to match the grating shown to the other eye, yielding binocular fusion. Participants perceived the rivalry-to-fusion change to the dominant grating and not to the other, suppressed grating. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we found neural correlates of visual consciousness at the P1 for both sets of gratings, as well as at the P1-N1 for oblique gratings, and we found a neural correlate of the oblique effect at the N1, but only for perceived changes. These results show that the P1 is the earliest neural activity associated with visual consciousness and that visual consciousness might be necessary to elicit the oblique effect.

Visual mismatch negativity to vanishing parts of objects in younger and older adults

We investigated visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) to vanishing parts of continuously present objects by comparing the event-related potentials (ERPs) to infrequently (deviant) and frequently (standard) disappearing parts of the objects. This paradigm both excludes low-level stimulus-specific adaptation differences between the responses to deviants and standards, and increases the ecological validity of the stimuli. In comparison to frequently disappearing parts of the stimulus objects, infrequently vanishing parts elicited posterior negative event-related brain activity (vMMN). However, no vMMN emerged to the reappearance of the same parts of the objects. We compared the ERPs of an older and a younger sample of participants. In the 120-180 ms time period vMMN was similar in the two age groups, but in the 180-220 ms time period vMMN emerged only in the younger participants. We consider this difference as an index of more elaborate automatic processing of infrequent stimulus changes in younger adults.

Involvement of the visual change detection process in facilitating perceptual alternation in the bistable image

A bistable image induces one of two perceptual alternatives. When the bistable visual image is continuously viewed, the percept of the image alternates from one possible percept to the other. Perceptual alternation was previously reported to be induced by an exogenous perturbation in the bistable image, and this perturbation was theoretically interpreted to cause neural noise, prompting a transition between two stable perceptual states. However, little is known experimentally about the visual processing of exogenously driven perceptual alternation. Based on the findings of a previous behavioral study (Urakawa et al. in Perception 45:474-482, 2016), the present study hypothesized that the automatic visual change detection process, which is relevant to the detection of a visual change in a sequence of visual events, has an enhancing effect on the induction of perceptual alternation, similar to neural noise. In order to clarify this issue, we developed a novel experimental paradigm in which visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), an electroencephalographic brain response that reflects visual change detection, was evoked while participants continuously viewed the bistable image. In terms of inter-individual differences in neural and behavioral data, we found that enhancements in the peak amplitude of vMMN1, early vMMN at a latency of approximately 150 ms, correlated with increases in the proportion of perceptual alternation across participants. Our results indicate the involvement of automatic visual change detection in the induction of perceptual alternation, similar to neural noise, thereby providing a deeper insight into the neural mechanisms underlying exogenously driven perceptual alternation in the bistable image.

Visual mismatch negativity to masked stimuli presented at very brief presentation rates

Mismatch negativity (MMN) has been characterised as a 'pre-attentive' component of an event-related potential (ERP) that is related to discrimination and error prediction processes. The aim of the current experiment was to establish whether visual MMN could be recorded to briefly presented, backward and forward masked visual stimuli, given both below and above levels of subjective experience. Evidence of visual MMN elicitation in the absence of the ability to consciously report stimuli would provide strong evidence for the automaticity of the visual MMN mechanism. Using an oddball paradigm, two stimuli that differed in orientation from each other, a + and an ×, were presented on a computer screen. Electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from nine participants (six females), mean age 21.4 years. Results showed that for stimuli that were effectively masked at 7 ms presentation, there was little variation in the ERPs evoked to standard and deviant stimuli or in the subtraction waveform employed to delineate the visual MMN. At 14 ms stimulus presentation, when participants were able to report stimulus presence, an enhanced negativity at around 175 and 305 ms was observed to the deviant and was evident in the subtraction waveform. However, some of the difference observed in the ERPs can be attributed to stimulus characteristics, as the use of a 'lonely' deviant protocol revealed attenuated visual MMN components at 14 ms stimulus presentation. Overall, results suggest that some degree of conscious attention is required before visual MMN components emerge, suggesting visual MMN is not an entirely pre-attentive process.

Acute Stress and Perceptual Load Consume the Same Attentional Resources: A Behavioral-ERP Study

Stress and perceptual load affect selective attention in a paradoxical manner. They can facilitate selectivity or disrupt it. This EEG study was designed to examine the reciprocal relations between stress, load and attention. Two groups of subjects, one that performed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), and a control group, were asked to respond to a target letter under low and high perceptual load in the absence or presence of a distractor. In the control group, the distractor increased response times (RTs) for high and low load. In the TSST group, distractor increased RTs under low load only. ERPs showed that distractor’s presentation attenuated early visual P1 component and shortened its latency. In the TSST group, distractor reduced P1 component under high load but did not affect its latency. Source localization demonstrated reduced activation in V1 in response to distractors presence in the P1 time window for the TSST group compared to the control group. A behavioral replication revealed that in the TSST group distractors were less perceived under high load. Taken together, our results show that stress and perceptual load affect selectivity through the early stages of visual processing and might increase selectivity in a manner that would block conscious perception of irrelevant stimuli.

Automatic Change Detection to Facial Expressions in Adolescents: Evidence from Visual Mismatch Negativity Responses

Adolescence is a critical period for the neurodevelopment of social-emotional processing, wherein the automatic detection of changes in facial expressions is crucial for the development of interpersonal communication. Two groups of participants (an adolescent group and an adult group) were recruited to complete an emotional oddball task featuring on happy and one fearful condition. The measurement of event-related potential was carried out via electroencephalography and electrooculography recording, to detect visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) with regard to the automatic detection of changes in facial expressions between the two age groups. The current findings demonstrated that the adolescent group featured more negative vMMN amplitudes than the adult group in the fronto-central region during the 120–200 ms interval. During the time window of 370–450 ms, only the adult group showed better automatic processing on fearful faces than happy faces. The present study indicated that adolescent’s posses stronger automatic detection of changes in emotional expression relative to adults, and sheds light on the neurodevelopment of automatic processes concerning social-emotional information.

A frontal attention mechanism in the visual mismatch negativity

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We examine frontal mechanisms underlying the visual mismatch negativity.

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EEG and fMRI activity was examined in respect to unattended oddball stimuli.

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Left inferior frontal gyrus was associated with changes in the stimuli.

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Our findings correspond to similarly implicated regions in the auditory domain.

Automatic detection of environmental change is a core component of attention. The mismatch negativity (MMN), an electrophysiological marker of this mechanism, has been studied prominently in the auditory domain, with cortical generators identified in temporal and frontal regions. Here, we combined electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess whether the underlying frontal regions associated with auditory change detection also play a role in visual change detection. Twenty healthy young adults completed a visual MMN task in separate EEG and fMRI sessions. Region of interest analyses were conducted on left and right middle frontal (MFG) and inferior frontal (IFG) gyri, i.e., the frontal areas identified as potential auditory MMN generators. A significant increase in activation was observed in the left IFG and MFG in response to blocks containing deviant stimuli. These findings suggest that a frontal mechanism is involved in the detection of change in the visual MMN. Our results support the notion that frontal mechanisms underlie attention switching, as measured via MMN, across multiple modalities.

Emotional context facilitates cortical prediction error responses

In the predictive coding framework, mismatch negativity (MMN) is regarded a correlate of the prediction error that occurs when top-down predictions conflict with bottom-up sensory inputs. Expression-related MMN is a relatively novel construct thought to reflect a prediction error specific to emotional processing, which, however, has not yet been tested directly. Our paradigm includes both neutral and emotional deviants, thereby allowing for investigating whether expression-related MMN is emotion-specific or unspecifically arises from violations of a given sequence. Twenty healthy participants completed a visual sequence oddball task where they were presented with (1) sequence deviants, (2) emotional sequence deviants, and (3) emotional deviants. Mismatch components were assessed at ventral occipitotemporal scalp sites and analyzed regarding their amplitudes, spatiotemporal profiles, and neuronal sources. Expression-related MMN could be clearly separated from its neutral counterpart in all investigated aspects. Specifically, expression-related MMN showed enhanced amplitude, shorter latency, and different neuronal sources. Our results, therefore, provide converging evidence for a quantitative specificity of expression-related MMN and seems to provide an opportunity to study prediction error during preattentive emotional processing. Our neurophysiological evidence ultimately suggests that a basic cognitive operator, the prediction error, is enhanced at the cortical level by processing of emotionally salient stimuli.

Asymmetric effect of automatic deviant detection: The effect of familiarity in visual mismatch negativity

The visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) component is regarded as a prediction error signal elicited by events violating the sequential regularities of environmental stimulation. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of familiarity on the vMMN. Stimuli were patterns comprised of familiar (N) or unfamiliar (И) letters. In a passive oddball paradigm, letters (N and И) were presented as either standard or deviant in separate conditions. VMMNs emerged in both conditions; peak latency of vMMN was shorter to the И deviant compared to the vMMN elicited by the N deviant. To test the orientation-specific effect of the oblique lines on the vMMN, we introduced a control experiment. In the control experiment, the patterns were constructed solely from oblique lines, identical to the oblique lines of the N and И stimuli. Contrary to the first experiment, there was no significant difference between the vMNNs elicited by the two orientations. Therefore, the differences in vMMNs to И and N deviants are not attributable to the physical difference between the И and N stimuli. Consequently, the vMMN is sensitive to the familiarity of the stimuli. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Prediction and Attention.

Mapping brain activity during loss of situation awareness: an EEG investigation of a basis for top-down influence on perception

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to map brain activity during early intervals in loss of situation awareness (SA) to examine any co-activity in visual and high-order regions, reflecting grounds for top-down influences on Level I SA.

BACKGROUND

Behavioral and neuroscience evidence indicates that high-order brain areas can engage before perception is complete. Inappropriate top-down messages may distort perception during loss of SA. Evidence of co-activity of perceptual and high-order regions would not confirm such influence but may reflect a basis for it.

METHOD

SA and bias were measured using Quantitative Analysis of Situation Awareness and brain activity recorded with 128-channel EEG (electroencephalography) during loss of SA. One task (15 participants) required identification of a target pattern, and another task (10 participants) identification of "threat" in urban scenes. In both, the target was changed without warning, enforcing loss of SA. Key regions of brain activity were identified using source localization with standardized low-resolution electrical tomography (sLORETA) 150 to 160 ms post-stimulus onset in both tasks and also 100 to 110 ms in the second task.

RESULTS

In both tasks, there was significant loss of SA and bias shift (p < .02), associated at both 150- and 100-ms intervals with co-activity of visual regions and prefrontal, anterior cingulate and parietal regions linked to cognition under uncertainty.

CONCLUSION

There was early co-activity in high- order and visual perception regions that may provide a basis for top-down influence on perception.

APPLICATION

Co-activity in high- and low-order brain regions may explain either beneficial or disruptive top-down influence on perception affecting Level I SA in real-world operations.

Visual mismatch negativity: a predictive coding view

An increasing number of studies investigate the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) or use the vMMN as a tool to probe various aspects of human cognition. This paper reviews the theoretical underpinnings of vMMN in the light of methodological considerations and provides recommendations for measuring and interpreting the vMMN. The following key issues are discussed from the experimentalist's point of view in a predictive coding framework: (1) experimental protocols and procedures to control "refractoriness" effects; (2) methods to control attention; (3) vMMN and veridical perception.

Magnetic source localization of early visual mismatch response

Previous studies have reported a visual analogue of the auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) response that is based on sensory memory. The neural generators and attention dependence of the visual MMN (vMMN) still remain unclear. We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) and spatio-temporal source localization to determine the generators of the sensory-memory-based vMMN response to non-attended deviants. Ten participants were asked to discriminate between odd and even digits presented at the center of the visual field while grating patterns with different spatial frequencies were presented outside the focus of attention. vMMN was calculated as the difference between MEG responses to infrequent gratings in oddball blocks and the same gratings in equiprobable blocks. The peak latency of the vMMN response was between 100 and 160 ms. The neuromagnetic sources of the vMMN localized in the occipital cortex differed from the sources evoked by the equiprobable gratings and were stimulus-dependent. Our results suggest the existence of separate neural systems for pre-attentive memory-based detection of visual change and provide new evidence that the vMMN is feature-specific.

vMMN for schematic faces: automatic detection of change in emotional expression

Our brain is able to automatically detect changes in sensory stimulation, including in vision. A large variety of changes of features in stimulation elicit a deviance-reflecting event-related potential (ERP) component known as the mismatch negativity (MMN). The present study has three main goals: (1) to register vMMN using a rapidly presented stream of schematic faces (neutral, happy, and angry; adapted from Öhman etal., 2001); (2) to compare elicited vMMNs to angry and happy schematic faces in two different paradigms, in a traditional oddball design with frequent standard and rare target and deviant stimuli (12.5% each) and in an version of an optimal multi-feature paradigm with several deviant stimuli (altogether 37.5%) in the stimulus block; (3) to compare vMMNs to subjective ratings of valence, arousal and attention capture for happy and angry schematic faces, i.e., to estimate the effect of affective value of stimuli on their automatic detection. Eleven observers (19–32 years, six women) took part in both experiments, an oddball and optimum paradigm. Stimuli were rapidly presented schematic faces and an object with face-features that served as the target stimulus to be detected by a button-press. Results show that a vMMN-type response at posterior sites was equally elicited in both experiments. Post-experimental reports confirmed that the angry face attracted more automatic attention than the happy face but the difference did not emerge directly at the ERP level. Thus, when interested in studying change detection in facial expressions we encourage the use of the optimum (multi-feature) design in order to save time and other experimental resources.

Oblique effect in visual mismatch negativity

We investigated whether visual orientation anisotropies (known as oblique effect) exist in non-attended visual changes using event-related potentials (ERP). We recorded visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) which signals violation of sequential regularities. In the visual periphery unattended, task-irrelevant Gábor patches were displayed in an oddball sequence while subjects performed a tracking task in the central field. A moderate change (50°) in the orientation of stimuli revealed no consistent change-related components. However, we found orientation-related differences around 170 ms in occipito-temporal areas in the amplitude of the ERPs evoked by standard stimuli. In a supplementary experiment we determined the amount of orientation difference that is needed for change detection in an active, attended paradigm. Results exhibited the classical oblique effect; subjects detected 10° deviations from cardinal directions, while threshold from oblique directions was 17°. These results provide evidence that perception of change could be accomplished at significantly smaller thresholds, than what elicits vMMN. In Experiment 2 we increased the orientation change to 90°. Deviant-minus-standard difference was negative in occipito-parietal areas, between 120 and 200 ms after stimulus onset. VMMNs to changes from cardinal angles were larger and more sustained than vMMNs evoked by changes from oblique angles. Changes from cardinal orientations represent a more detectable signal for the automatic change detection system than changes from oblique angles, thus increased vMMN to these “larger” deviances might be considered a variant of the magnitude of deviance effect rarely observed in vMMN studies.