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Paavilainen P, Ilola M. Effects of attention on the processing of physical and abstract auditory regularities: An exploratory MMN study. Heliyon 2024; 10:e33182. [PMID: 39021970 PMCID: PMC11253046 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e33182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Revised: 05/23/2024] [Accepted: 06/15/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024] Open
Abstract
The mismatch-negativity (MMN) component of the auditory event-related potential (ERP) reflects preattentive memory mechanisms encoding various types of regularities in the auditory environment. In an oddball paradigm, two types of deviant stimuli (in separate blocks) were presented among frequent standard stimuli: physical deviants (higher in pitch than the standards) and more complex, "abstract" deviants (tone pairs descending in pitch, presented among ascending standard tone pairs). The attentional load of the participant was manipulated under three conditions, where the participants either (1) watched a silent video, (2) played a computer game (Tetris) or (3) attended to the auditory stimuli and tried to detect infrequent target stimuli which were of lower intensity than the standard stimuli. The goal was to find out, whether the possible attention effects (suppression/enhancement) on the MMN are similar or different to stimuli requiring the extraction of either physical or abstract invariances. Both the physical and abstract deviants elicited in all conditions MMNs but no statistically significant amplitude differences between the conditions were found. The N2b and P3b components were elicited only in the attend condition and only by the soft target tones. The results further confirm that the MMN is a robust response to various types of regularity violations, showing no major effects of attentional manipulations. The results also suggest that the most commonly used primary task in MMN experiments, watching a silent video, usually keeps the participants' attention well enough directed away from the auditory stimuli. However, in cases where a cognitively more demanding but still participant-friendly primary task is needed, a simple computer game such as Tetris can be used, enabling better control of the participants' attention and vigilance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petri Paavilainen
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Marianne Ilola
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Finland
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2
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Kong Y, Zhao C, Li D, Li B, Hu Y, Liu H, Woolgar A, Guo J, Song Y. Auditory change detection and visual selective attention: association between MMN and N2pc. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae175. [PMID: 38700440 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2023] [Revised: 04/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/05/2024] Open
Abstract
While the auditory and visual systems each provide distinct information to our brain, they also work together to process and prioritize input to address ever-changing conditions. Previous studies highlighted the trade-off between auditory change detection and visual selective attention; however, the relationship between them is still unclear. Here, we recorded electroencephalography signals from 106 healthy adults in three experiments. Our findings revealed a positive correlation at the population level between the amplitudes of event-related potential indices associated with auditory change detection (mismatch negativity) and visual selective attention (posterior contralateral N2) when elicited in separate tasks. This correlation persisted even when participants performed a visual task while disregarding simultaneous auditory stimuli. Interestingly, as visual attention demand increased, participants whose posterior contralateral N2 amplitude increased the most exhibited the largest reduction in mismatch negativity, suggesting a within-subject trade-off between the two processes. Taken together, our results suggest an intimate relationship and potential shared mechanism between auditory change detection and visual selective attention. We liken this to a total capacity limit that varies between individuals, which could drive correlated individual differences in auditory change detection and visual selective attention, and also within-subject competition between the two, with task-based modulation of visual attention causing within-participant decrease in auditory change detection sensitivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuanjun Kong
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
| | - Chenguang Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Dongwei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, 18 Jinfeng Road, Zhuhai 519087, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Bingkun Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yiqing Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Hongyu Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Alexandra Woolgar
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
| | - Jialiang Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yan Song
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, China
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Bouwer FL, Háden GP, Honing H. Probing Beat Perception with Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) in Human Adults, Newborns, and Nonhuman Primates. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2024; 1455:227-256. [PMID: 38918355 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-60183-5_13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/27/2024]
Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to give an overview of how the perception of rhythmic temporal regularity such as a regular beat in music can be studied in human adults, human newborns, and nonhuman primates using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). First, we discuss different aspects of temporal structure in general, and musical rhythm in particular, and we discuss the possible mechanisms underlying the perception of regularity (e.g., a beat) in rhythm. Additionally, we highlight the importance of dissociating beat perception from the perception of other types of structure in rhythm, such as predictable sequences of temporal intervals, ordinal structure, and rhythmic grouping. In the second section of the chapter, we start with a discussion of auditory ERPs elicited by infrequent and frequent sounds: ERP responses to regularity violations, such as mismatch negativity (MMN), N2b, and P3, as well as early sensory responses to sounds, such as P1 and N1, have been shown to be instrumental in probing beat perception. Subsequently, we discuss how beat perception can be probed by comparing ERP responses to sounds in regular and irregular sequences, and by comparing ERP responses to sounds in different metrical positions in a rhythm, such as on and off the beat or on strong and weak beats. Finally, we will discuss previous research that has used the aforementioned ERPs and paradigms to study beat perception in human adults, human newborns, and nonhuman primates. In doing so, we consider the possible pitfalls and prospects of the technique, as well as future perspectives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fleur L Bouwer
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
- Department of Psychology, Brain & Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Gábor P Háden
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Telecommunications and Media Informatics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Henkjan Honing
- Music Cognition group (MCG), Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC), Amsterdam Brain and Cognition (ABC), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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4
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Hsu YF, Tu CA, Chen Y, Liu HM. The mismatch negativity to abstract relationship of tone pairs is independent of attention. Sci Rep 2023; 13:9839. [PMID: 37330612 PMCID: PMC10276803 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37131-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The mismatch negativity (MMN) implicating a comparison process between the deviant and the memory trace of the standard can be elicited by not only changes in physical features but also violations of abstract patterns. It is considered pre-attentive, yet the use of the passive design makes it difficult to exclude the possibility of attention leak. In contrast to how this issue has been well addressed with the MMN to physical changes, much less research directly investigated the attentional effect on the MMN to abstract relationships. Here we conducted an electroencephalography (EEG) experiment to study whether and how the MMN to abstract relationships is modulated by attention. We adapted the oddball paradigm of Kujala et al. by presenting occasional descending tone pairs among frequent ascending tone pairs, while additionally implementing a novel control of attention. Participants' attention was either directed away from the sounds (with an engaging task of visual target detection, so that the sounds were task-irrelevant) or toward the sounds (with a conventional task of auditory deviant detection, so that the sounds were task-relevant). The MMN to abstract relationships appeared regardless of attention, confirming the pre-attentive assumption. The attention-independence of the frontocentral and supratemporal components of the MMN supported the notion that attention is not required to generate the MMN. At the individual level, a relatively equal number of participants showed attention enhancement and attention suppression. It is unlike the attentional modulation on the P3b, which was robustly elicited in the attended condition only. The concurrent collection of these two neurophysiological markers in both unattended and attended conditions might be potentially suitable for testing clinical populations showing heterogeneous deficits in auditory function independent/dependent of attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Fang Hsu
- Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, 106308, Taiwan
- Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, 106308, Taiwan
| | - Chia-An Tu
- Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, 106308, Taiwan
- Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, 106308, Taiwan
| | - Yuchun Chen
- Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, 106308, Taiwan
- Center of Teacher Education, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, 242062, Taiwan
| | - Huei-Mei Liu
- Institute for Research Excellence in Learning Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, 106308, Taiwan.
- Department of Special Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, 106308, Taiwan.
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Fu T, Li B, Yin W, Huang S, Liu H, Song Y, Li X, Shang H, Zhou Y, Cheng D, Cao L, Dang CP. Sound localization and auditory selective attention in school-aged children with ADHD. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:1051585. [PMID: 36620456 PMCID: PMC9812578 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1051585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to identify the neurophysiologic bases of auditory attention deficits in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), focusing on the electroencephalography component of auditory spatial selective attention [the N2 anterior contralateral component (N2ac)]. EEG data were collected from 7- to 11-year-old children with ADHD (n = 54) and age-, sex-, and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children (n = 61), while they performed an auditory spatial selective task. For behavior, the children with ADHD showed a shorter reaction time (RT) but a higher RT coefficient of variability (RTCV) than TD children. For ERPs, the TD group showed a significant "adult-like" N2ac component; however, the N2ac component was absent in children with ADHD. More importantly, the smaller N2ac component could predict longer RT in both groups, as well as higher severity of inattentive symptoms in children with ADHD. Our results indicated that 7- to 11-year-old TD children have developed an "adult-like" ability to balance auditory target selection and distractor suppression; the absence of N2ac in children with ADHD provided novel evidence supporting their dysfunctional auditory spatial selective attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tong Fu
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China,Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Bingkun Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Weizhen Yin
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China,Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Shitao Huang
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China,Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Hongyu Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Yan Song
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China,Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoli Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Herui Shang
- Department of Applied Psychology, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yanling Zhou
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China,Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Daomeng Cheng
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China,Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Liping Cao
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China,Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China,Liping Cao
| | - Cai-Ping Dang
- The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China,Department of Applied Psychology, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China,Institute of Psychiatry and Psychology, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China,*Correspondence: Cai-Ping Dang
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Drollette ES, Meadows CC. The effects of acute high-intensity interval exercise on the temporal dynamics of working memory and contralateral delay activity. Psychophysiology 2022; 59:e14112. [PMID: 35634964 PMCID: PMC9787727 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2021] [Revised: 03/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The present investigation examined the acute effects of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) on temporal changes in behavioral and neuroelectrical indices of working memory. Young adults (n = 22) performed a visual working memory change detection task of equiprobable 2- to 5-dot set sizes while contralateral delay activity (CDA) and N2pc ERP components were assessed at three consecutive time periods (40-min, 54-min, and 68-min) following three separate counterbalanced 9-min sessions of seated rest, HIIE-aerobic (treadmill intervals of moderate- and high-intensity run/walk periods) and HIIE-aerobic/resistance (intervals of rest and body-weight calisthenics). Behavior results revealed greater 4-dot accuracy for HIIE-aerobic/resistance compared to seated rest only at 40-min, maintenance of 5-dot accuracy across time for HIIE-aerobic compared to HIIE-aerobic/resistance and seated rest, and greater temporal stability in overall accuracy performance (i.e., inter-class correlation between temporally adjacent assessments) for both HIIE conditions compared to seated rest. CDA and N2pc results revealed no change in amplitude across time and between HIIE-aerobic, HIIE-aerobic/resistance, and seated rest. However, greater temporal stability in CDA amplitude was observed for HIIE-aerobic compared to seated rest. These findings suggest that short bouts of HIIE may serve as an effective modality for improvements and temporal stabilization in behavior with some evidence for stabilization of neuroelectrical indices of working memory capacity. Together, these data broadly suggest that short acute bouts of exercise may facilitate improvements in underlying mental operations responsible for temporal stability in cognitive and neurocognitive function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric S. Drollette
- Department of KinesiologyUniversity of North Carolina at GreensboroGreensboroNorth CarolinaUSA
| | - Caroline C. Meadows
- Department of KinesiologyUniversity of North Carolina at GreensboroGreensboroNorth CarolinaUSA
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7
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Oddball-irrelevant visual stimuli cross-modally attenuate auditory mismatch negativity in rats. Neuroreport 2022; 33:363-368. [DOI: 10.1097/wnr.0000000000001793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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8
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Brockhoff L, Schindler S, Bruchmann M, Straube T. Effects of perceptual and working memory load on brain responses to task-irrelevant stimuli: Review and implications for future research. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 135:104580. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Revised: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 02/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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9
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Kaya EM, Huang N, Elhilali M. Pitch, Timbre and Intensity Interdependently Modulate Neural Responses to Salient Sounds. Neuroscience 2020; 440:1-14. [PMID: 32445938 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2019] [Revised: 04/28/2020] [Accepted: 05/10/2020] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
As we listen to everyday sounds, auditory perception is heavily shaped by interactions between acoustic attributes such as pitch, timbre and intensity; though it is not clear how such interactions affect judgments of acoustic salience in dynamic soundscapes. Salience perception is believed to rely on an internal brain model that tracks the evolution of acoustic characteristics of a scene and flags events that do not fit this model as salient. The current study explores how the interdependency between attributes of dynamic scenes affects the neural representation of this internal model and shapes encoding of salient events. Specifically, the study examines how deviations along combinations of acoustic attributes interact to modulate brain responses, and subsequently guide perception of certain sound events as salient given their context. Human volunteers have their attention focused on a visual task and ignore acoustic melodies playing in the background while their brain activity using electroencephalography is recorded. Ambient sounds consist of musical melodies with probabilistically-varying acoustic attributes. Salient notes embedded in these scenes deviate from the melody's statistical distribution along pitch, timbre and/or intensity. Recordings of brain responses to salient notes reveal that neural power in response to the melodic rhythm as well as cross-trial phase alignment in the theta band are modulated by degree of salience of the notes, estimated across all acoustic attributes given their probabilistic context. These neural nonlinear effects across attributes strongly parallel behavioral nonlinear interactions observed in perceptual judgments of auditory salience using similar dynamic melodies; suggesting a neural underpinning of nonlinear interactions that underlie salience perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emine Merve Kaya
- Laboratory for Computational Audio Perception, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Nicolas Huang
- Laboratory for Computational Audio Perception, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Mounya Elhilali
- Laboratory for Computational Audio Perception, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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Hestvik A, Shinohara Y, Durvasula K, Verdonschot RG, Sakai H. Abstractness of human speech sound representations. Brain Res 2020; 1732:146664. [PMID: 31930995 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2020.146664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2019] [Revised: 01/02/2020] [Accepted: 01/09/2020] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
We argue, based on a study of brain responses to speech sound differences in Japanese, that memory encoding of functional speech sounds-phonemes-are highly abstract. As an example, we provide evidence for a theory where the consonants/p t k b d g/ are not only made up of symbolic features but are underspecified with respect to voicing or laryngeal features, and that languages differ with respect to which feature value is underspecified. In a previous study we showed that voiced stops are underspecified in English [Hestvik, A., & Durvasula, K. (2016). Neurobiological evidence for voicing underspecification in English. Brain and Language], as shown by asymmetries in Mismatch Negativity responses to /t/ and /d/. In the current study, we test the prediction that the opposite asymmetry should be observed in Japanese, if voiceless stops are underspecified in that language. Our results confirm this prediction. This matches a linguistic architecture where phonemes are highly abstract and do not encode actual physical characteristics of the corresponding speech sounds, but rather different subsets of abstract distinctive features.
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Wiens S, van Berlekom E, Szychowska M, Eklund R. Visual Perceptual Load Does Not Affect the Frequency Mismatch Negativity. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1970. [PMID: 31507504 PMCID: PMC6719510 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2019] [Accepted: 08/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The mismatch negativity (MMN) has been of particular interest in auditory perception because of its sensitivity to auditory change. It is typically measured in an oddball task and is computed as the difference of deviant minus standard tones. Previous studies suggest that the oddball MMN can be reduced by crossmodal attention to a concurrent, difficult visual task. However, more recent studies did not replicate this effect. Because previous findings seem to be biased, we preregistered the present study and used Bayesian hypothesis testing to measure the strength of evidence for or against an effect of visual task difficulty. We manipulated visual perceptual load (high and low load). In the task, the visual stimuli were identical for both loads to avoid confounding effects from physical differences of the visual stimuli. We also measured the corrected MMN because the oddball MMN may be confounded by physical differences between deviant and standard tones. The corrected MMN is obtained with a separate control condition in which the same tone as the deviant (critical tone) is equiprobable with other tones. The corrected MMN is computed as deviant minus critical tones. Furthermore, we assessed working memory capacity to examine its moderating role. In our large sample (N = 49), the evidential strength in support of no effect of visual load was moderate for the oddball MMN (9.09 > BF01 > 3.57) and anecdotal to moderate for the corrected MMN (4.55 > BF01 > 2.17). Also, working memory capacity did not correlate with the visual load effect on the oddball MMN and the corrected MMN. The present findings support the robustness of the auditory frequency MMN to manipulations of crossmodal, visual attention and suggest that this relationship is not moderated by working memory capacity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Wiens
- Gösta Ekmans Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Erik van Berlekom
- Gösta Ekmans Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Malina Szychowska
- Gösta Ekmans Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Rasmus Eklund
- Gösta Ekmans Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
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12
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Feature binding in auditory modality requires attention as indexed by mismatch negativity and N2b in an active discrimination task. Neuroreport 2019; 29:308-313. [PMID: 29293173 DOI: 10.1097/wnr.0000000000000960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Currently, there are two opposing views on feature binding in the auditory modality: according to behavioral studies, this process requires focused attention, whereas electrophysiological studies suggest that feature binding may be fully automatic and independent of attention. Here, we examined whether feature binding depends on higher-level attentional processes by manipulating the attentional focus. We used four auditory stimuli that differed in two features: pitch and location. Two rare deviants could be detected within a sequence of two frequent standards exclusively by feature conjunctions rather than by any single feature alone. Event-related potentials to auditory stimuli were analyzed for four conditions: selective attention to target auditory deviants, selective ignoring of nontarget auditory deviants, nonselective distributed attention to all stimuli within auditory modality, and selective attention diverted from auditory to visual modality. The negative difference (Nd) between event-related potentials to deviants and standards was measured within two time intervals, corresponding to mismatch negativity (100-200 ms) and N2b (200-300 ms). Only under the condition of selective attention to specific feature conjunctions, prominent Nd was observed in mismatch negativity as well in N2b time ranges, whereas no significant Nd was observed in other conditions. As Nd is considered a marker of deviance processing, our results support the view that deviance was not detected unless attention was focused on the stimuli, thus supporting the view that feature binding requires attention.
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Dehghan Nayyeri M, Burgmer M, Pfleiderer B. Impact of pressure as a tactile stimulus on working memory in healthy participants. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0213070. [PMID: 30870456 PMCID: PMC6417705 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2018] [Accepted: 02/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies on cross-modal interaction have demonstrated attenuated as well as facilitated effects for both neural responses as well as behavioral performance. The goals of this pilot study were to investigate possible cross-modal interactions of tactile stimulation on visual working memory and to identify possible neuronal correlates by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During fMRI, participants (n = 12 females, n = 12 males) performed a verbal n-back task (0-back and 2-back tasks) while tactile pressure to the left thumbnail was delivered. Participants presented significantly lower behavioral performances (increased error rates, and reaction times) during the 2-back task as compared to the 0-back task. Task performance was independent of pressure in both tasks. This means that working memory performance was not impacted by a low salient tactile stimulus. Also in the fMRI data, no significant interactions of n-back x pressure were observed. In conclusion, the current study found no influence of tactile pressure on task-related brain activity during n-back (0-back and 2-back) tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahboobeh Dehghan Nayyeri
- Medical Faculty and Institute of Clinical Radiology, University Hospital Muenster, Muenster, Germany
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LVR Clinic, Medical Faculty of the Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf, Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Markus Burgmer
- Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Muenster, Muenster, Germany
| | - Bettina Pfleiderer
- Medical Faculty and Institute of Clinical Radiology, University Hospital Muenster, Muenster, Germany
- * E-mail:
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Abstract
The aim of this study was to address the potential for the auditory mismatch negativity (aMMN) to be used in applied event-related potential (ERP) studies by determining whether the aMMN would be an attention-dependent ERP component and could be differently modulated across visual tasks or virtual reality (VR) stimuli with different visual properties and visual complexity levels. A total of 80 participants, aged 19-36 years, were assigned to either a reading-task (21 men and 19 women) or a VR-task (22 men and 18 women) group. Two visual-task groups of healthy young adults were matched in age, sex, and handedness. All participants were instructed to focus only on the given visual tasks and ignore auditory change detection. While participants in the reading-task group read text slides, those in the VR-task group viewed three 360° VR videos in a random order and rated how visually complex the given virtual environment was immediately after each VR video ended. Inconsistent with the finding of a partial significant difference in perceived visual complexity in terms of brightness of virtual environments, both visual properties of distance and brightness showed no significant differences in the modulation of aMMN amplitudes. A further analysis was carried out to compare elicited aMMN amplitudes of a typical MMN task and an applied VR task. No significant difference in the aMMN amplitudes was found across the two groups who completed visual tasks with different visual-task demands. In conclusion, the aMMN is a reliable ERP marker of preattentive cognitive processing for auditory deviance detection.
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Wiens S, Szychowska M, Eklund R, Nilsson ME. Data on the auditory duration mismatch negativity for different sound pressure levels and visual perceptual loads. Data Brief 2017; 11:159-164. [PMID: 28229115 PMCID: PMC5310816 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2017.02.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2017] [Revised: 01/13/2017] [Accepted: 02/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The data presented in this article are related to our research article entitled "Effects of sound pressure level and visual perceptual load on the auditory mismatch negativity" (M. Szychowska, R. Eklund, M.E. Nilsson, S. Wiens, 2016) [1]. The duration MMN was recorded at three sound pressure levels (SPLs) during two levels of visual perceptual load. In an oddball paradigm (standard=75 ms, deviant=30 ms, within-subjects design), participants were presented with tones at 56, 66, or 76 dB SPL (between-subjects design). At the same time, participants focused on a letter-detection task (find X in a circle of six letters). In separate blocks, perceptual load was either low (the six letters were the same) or high (the six letters differed). In the first data collection, tones had only 76 dB SPL [2]. In a follow-up data collection with exactly the same procedure, tones had 56 and 66 dB SPL [1]. Here, we report the procedure, the recording of electroencephalography (EEG) and its preprocessing in terms of event-related potentials (ERPs), the preprocessing of behavioral data, as well as the grand mean ERPs in figures. For each participant, the reported ERP data include mean amplitudes for standards, deviants, and the difference wave (MMN) at Fz (with tip of nose as a reference), separately for the combinations of SPL and load. Reported behavioral data include the signal-detection measure d' as an index of detection performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Wiens
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Frescati Hagväg 9A, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Malina Szychowska
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Frescati Hagväg 9A, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Rasmus Eklund
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Frescati Hagväg 9A, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mats E Nilsson
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Frescati Hagväg 9A, Stockholm, Sweden
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Flynn M, Liasis A, Gardner M, Towell T. Visual mismatch negativity to masked stimuli presented at very brief presentation rates. Exp Brain Res 2017; 235:555-563. [PMID: 27812749 PMCID: PMC5272894 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-016-4807-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2016] [Accepted: 10/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Flynn
- Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish Street, London, W1W 6UW, UK
| | - Alki Liasis
- Department of Ophthalmology, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, WC1N 3JH, UK
| | - Mark Gardner
- Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish Street, London, W1W 6UW, UK
| | - Tony Towell
- Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish Street, London, W1W 6UW, UK.
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Szychowska M, Eklund R, Nilsson ME, Wiens S. Effects of sound pressure level and visual perceptual load on the auditory mismatch negativity. Neurosci Lett 2017; 640:37-41. [PMID: 28062201 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2017.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2016] [Revised: 12/21/2016] [Accepted: 01/02/2017] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Auditory change detection has been studied extensively with mismatch negativity (MMN), an event-related potential. Because it is unresolved if the duration MMN depends on sound pressure level (SPL), we studied effects of different SPLs (56, 66, and 76dB) on the duration MMN. Further, previous research suggests that the MMN is reduced by a concurrent visual task. Because a recent behavioral study found that high visual perceptual load strongly reduced detection sensitivity to irrelevant sounds, we studied if the duration MMN is reduced by load, and if this reduction is stronger at low SPLs. Although a duration MMN was observed for all SPLs, the MMN was apparently not moderated strongly by SPL, perceptual load, or their interaction, because all 95% CIs overlapped zero. In a contrast analysis of the MMN (across loads) between the 56-dB and 76-dB groups, evidence (BF=0.31) favored the null hypothesis that duration MMN is unaffected by a 20-dB increase in SPL. Similarly, evidence (BF=0.19) favored the null hypothesis that effects of perceptual load on the duration MMN do not change with a 20-dB increase in SPL. However, evidence (BF=3.12) favored the alternative hypothesis that the effect of perceptual load in the present study resembled the overall effect in a recent meta-analysis. When the present findings were combined with the meta-analysis, the effect of load (low minus high) was -0.43μV, 95% CI [-0.64, -0.22] suggesting that the duration MMN decreases with load. These findings provide support for a sensitive monitoring system of the auditory environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malina Szychowska
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Frescati Hagväg 9A, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Rasmus Eklund
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Frescati Hagväg 9A, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mats E Nilsson
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Frescati Hagväg 9A, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Stefan Wiens
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Frescati Hagväg 9A, Stockholm, Sweden.
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Wiens S, Szychowska M, Nilsson ME. Visual Task Demands and the Auditory Mismatch Negativity: An Empirical Study and a Meta-Analysis. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0146567. [PMID: 26741815 PMCID: PMC4704804 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2015] [Accepted: 12/18/2015] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Because the auditory system is particularly useful in monitoring the environment, previous research has examined whether task-irrelevant, auditory distracters are processed even if subjects focus their attention on visual stimuli. This research suggests that attentionally demanding visual tasks decrease the auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) to simultaneously presented auditory distractors. Because a recent behavioral study found that high visual perceptual load decreased detection sensitivity of simultaneous tones, we used a similar task (n = 28) to determine if high visual perceptual load would reduce the auditory MMN. Results suggested that perceptual load did not decrease the MMN. At face value, these nonsignificant findings may suggest that effects of perceptual load on the MMN are smaller than those of other demanding visual tasks. If so, effect sizes should differ systematically between the present and previous studies. We conducted a selective meta-analysis of published studies in which the MMN was derived from the EEG, the visual task demands were continuous and varied between high and low within the same task, and the task-irrelevant tones were presented in a typical oddball paradigm simultaneously with the visual stimuli. Because the meta-analysis suggested that the present (null) findings did not differ systematically from previous findings, the available evidence was combined. Results of this meta-analysis confirmed that demanding visual tasks reduce the MMN to auditory distracters. However, because the meta-analysis was based on small studies and because of the risk for publication biases, future studies should be preregistered with large samples (n > 150) to provide confirmatory evidence for the results of the present meta-analysis. These future studies should also use control conditions that reduce confounding effects of neural adaptation, and use load manipulations that are defined independently from their effects on the MMN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Wiens
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Malina Szychowska
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- Institute of Acoustics, Department of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
| | - Mats E. Nilsson
- Gösta Ekman Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
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19
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Cross-modal perceptual load: the impact of modality and individual differences. Exp Brain Res 2015; 234:1279-91. [DOI: 10.1007/s00221-015-4517-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2015] [Accepted: 11/30/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Masutomi K, Barascud N, Kashino M, McDermott JH, Chait M. Sound segregation via embedded repetition is robust to inattention. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2015; 42:386-400. [PMID: 26480248 PMCID: PMC4763252 DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The segregation of sound sources from the mixture of sounds that enters the ear is a core capacity of human hearing, but the extent to which this process is dependent on attention remains unclear. This study investigated the effect of attention on the ability to segregate sounds via repetition. We utilized a dual task design in which stimuli to be segregated were presented along with stimuli for a "decoy" task that required continuous monitoring. The task to assess segregation presented a target sound 10 times in a row, each time concurrent with a different distractor sound. McDermott, Wrobleski, and Oxenham (2011) demonstrated that repetition causes the target sound to be segregated from the distractors. Segregation was queried by asking listeners whether a subsequent probe sound was identical to the target. A control task presented similar stimuli but probed discrimination without engaging segregation processes. We present results from 3 different decoy tasks: a visual multiple object tracking task, a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) digit encoding task, and a demanding auditory monitoring task. Load was manipulated by using high- and low-demand versions of each decoy task. The data provide converging evidence of a small effect of attention that is nonspecific, in that it affected the segregation and control tasks to a similar extent. In all cases, segregation performance remained high despite the presence of a concurrent, objectively demanding decoy task. The results suggest that repetition-based segregation is robust to inattention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keiko Masutomi
- Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology
| | | | - Makio Kashino
- Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology
| | - Josh H McDermott
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Winkler I, Schröger E. Auditory perceptual objects as generative models: Setting the stage for communication by sound. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2015; 148:1-22. [PMID: 26184883 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2015.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2014] [Revised: 03/03/2015] [Accepted: 05/03/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Communication by sounds requires that the communication channels (i.e. speech/speakers and other sound sources) had been established. This allows to separate concurrently active sound sources, to track their identity, to assess the type of message arriving from them, and to decide whether and when to react (e.g., reply to the message). We propose that these functions rely on a common generative model of the auditory environment. This model predicts upcoming sounds on the basis of representations describing temporal/sequential regularities. Predictions help to identify the continuation of the previously discovered sound sources to detect the emergence of new sources as well as changes in the behavior of the known ones. It produces auditory event representations which provide a full sensory description of the sounds, including their relation to the auditory context and the current goals of the organism. Event representations can be consciously perceived and serve as objects in various cognitive operations.
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Affiliation(s)
- István Winkler
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary; Institute of Psychology, University of Szeged, Hungary.
| | - Erich Schröger
- Institute for Psychology, University of Leipzig, Germany.
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Breska A, Deouell LY. Automatic Bias of Temporal Expectations following Temporally Regular Input Independently of High-level Temporal Expectation. J Cogn Neurosci 2014; 26:1555-71. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Exposure to rhythmic stimulation results in facilitated responses to events that appear in-phase with the rhythm and modulation of anticipatory and target-evoked brain activity, presumably reflecting “exogenous,” unintentional temporal expectations. However, the extent to which this effect is independent from intentional processes is not clear. In two EEG experiments, we isolated the unintentional component of this effect from high-level, intentional factors. Visual targets were presented either in-phase or out-of-phase with regularly flickering colored stimuli. In different blocks, the rhythm could be predictive (i.e., high probability for in-phase target) or not, and the color could be predictive (i.e., validly cue the interval to the target) or not. Exposure to nonpredictive rhythms resulted in faster responses for in-phase targets, even when the color predicted specific out-of-phase target times. Also, the contingent negative variation, an EEG component reflecting temporal anticipation, followed the interval of the nonpredictive rhythm and not that of the predictive color. Thus, rhythmic stimulation unintentionally induced expectations, even when this was detrimental. Intentional usage of predictive rhythms to form expectations resulted in a stronger behavioral effect, and only predictive cues modulated the latency of the target-evoked P3, presumably reflecting stimulus evaluation. These findings establish the existence of unintentional temporal expectations in rhythmic contexts, dissociate them from intentional expectations, and highlight the need to distinguish between the source of expectation (exogenous–endogenous) and the level of voluntary control involved in it (unintentional–intentional).
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23
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Honing H, Bouwer FL, Háden GP. Perceiving temporal regularity in music: the role of auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) in probing beat perception. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2014; 829:305-23. [PMID: 25358717 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-1782-2_16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to give an overview of how the perception of a regular beat in music can be studied in humans adults, human newborns, and nonhuman primates using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Next to a review of the recent literature on the perception of temporal regularity in music, we will discuss in how far ERPs, and especially the component called mismatch negativity (MMN), can be instrumental in probing beat perception. We conclude with a discussion on the pitfalls and prospects of using ERPs to probe the perception of a regular beat, in which we present possible constraints on stimulus design and discuss future perspectives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henkjan Honing
- Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC), Amsterdam Brain and Cognition (ABC), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
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24
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Aoyama A, Haruyama T, Kuriki S. Early auditory change detection implicitly facilitated by ignored concurrent visual change during a Braille reading task. J Integr Neurosci 2013; 12:385-99. [PMID: 24070061 DOI: 10.1142/s0219635213500234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Unconscious monitoring of multimodal stimulus changes enables humans to effectively sense the external environment. Such automatic change detection is thought to be reflected in auditory and visual mismatch negativity (MMN) and mismatch negativity fields (MMFs). These are event-related potentials and magnetic fields, respectively, evoked by deviant stimuli within a sequence of standard stimuli, and both are typically studied during irrelevant visual tasks that cause the stimuli to be ignored. Due to the sensitivity of MMN/MMF to potential effects of explicit attention to vision, however, it is unclear whether multisensory co-occurring changes can purely facilitate early sensory change detection reciprocally across modalities. We adopted a tactile task involving the reading of Braille patterns as a neutral ignore condition, while measuring magnetoencephalographic responses to concurrent audiovisual stimuli that were infrequently deviated either in auditory, visual, or audiovisual dimensions; 1000-Hz standard tones were switched to 1050-Hz deviant tones and/or two-by-two standard check patterns displayed on both sides of visual fields were switched to deviant reversed patterns. The check patterns were set to be faint enough so that the reversals could be easily ignored even during Braille reading. While visual MMFs were virtually undetectable even for visual and audiovisual deviants, significant auditory MMFs were observed for auditory and audiovisual deviants, originating from bilateral supratemporal auditory areas. Notably, auditory MMFs were significantly enhanced for audiovisual deviants from about 100 ms post-stimulus, as compared with the summation responses for auditory and visual deviants or for each of the unisensory deviants recorded in separate sessions. Evidenced by high tactile task performance with unawareness of visual changes, we conclude that Braille reading can successfully suppress explicit attention and that simultaneous multisensory changes can implicitly strengthen automatic change detection from an early stage in a cross-sensory manner, at least in the vision to audition direction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Atsushi Aoyama
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC), Keio University, 5322 Endo, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 252-0882, Japan , Research Institute for Science and Technology, Tokyo Denki University, 2-1200 Muzai-Gakuendai, Inzai, Chiba 270-1382, Japan
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25
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Roth C, Gupta CN, Plis SM, Damaraju E, Khullar S, Calhoun VD, Bridwell DA. The influence of visuospatial attention on unattended auditory 40 Hz responses. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:370. [PMID: 23874286 PMCID: PMC3711011 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2013] [Accepted: 06/25/2013] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Information must integrate from multiple brain areas in healthy cognition and perception. The present study examined the extent to which cortical responses within one sensory modality are modulated by a complex task conducted within another sensory modality. Electroencephalographic (EEG) responses were measured to a 40 Hz auditory stimulus while individuals attended to modulations in the amplitude of the 40 Hz stimulus, and as a function of the difficulty of the popular computer game Tetris. The steady-state response to the 40 Hz stimulus was isolated by Fourier analysis of the EEG. The response at the stimulus frequency was normalized by the response within the surrounding frequencies, generating the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Seven out of eight individuals demonstrate a monotonic increase in the log SNR of the 40 Hz responses going from the difficult visuospatial task to the easy visuospatial task to attending to the auditory stimuli. This pattern is represented statistically by a One-Way ANOVA, indicating significant differences in log SNR across the three tasks. The sensitivity of 40 Hz auditory responses to the visuospatial load was further demonstrated by a significant correlation between log SNR and the difficulty (i.e., speed) of the Tetris task. Thus, the results demonstrate that 40 Hz auditory cortical responses are influenced by an individual's goal-directed attention to the stimulus, and by the degree of difficulty of a complex visuospatial task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cullen Roth
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM, USA ; Department of Biology, Initiative for Maximizing Student Development, University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM, USA ; The Mind Research Network, University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM, USA
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26
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27
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Ono K, Matsuhashi M, Mima T, Fukuyama H, Altmann CF. Effects of regularity on the processing of sound omission in a tone sequence in musicians and non-musicians. Eur J Neurosci 2013; 38:2786-92. [DOI: 10.1111/ejn.12254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2013] [Accepted: 04/14/2013] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Masao Matsuhashi
- Human Brain Research Center; Graduate School of Medicine; Kyoto University; Kyoto; Japan
| | - Tatsuya Mima
- Human Brain Research Center; Graduate School of Medicine; Kyoto University; Kyoto; Japan
| | - Hidenao Fukuyama
- Human Brain Research Center; Graduate School of Medicine; Kyoto University; Kyoto; Japan
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28
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Rissling AJ, Park SH, Young JW, Rissling MB, Sugar CA, Sprock J, Mathias DJ, Pela M, Sharp RF, Braff DL, Light GA. Demand and modality of directed attention modulate "pre-attentive" sensory processes in schizophrenia patients and nonpsychiatric controls. Schizophr Res 2013; 146:326-35. [PMID: 23490760 PMCID: PMC3622836 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2013.01.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2012] [Revised: 01/28/2013] [Accepted: 01/30/2013] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mismatch negativity (MNN) and P3a are event related potential (ERP) measures of early sensory information processing. These components are usually conceptualized as being "pre-attentive" and therefore immune to changes with variations in attentional functioning. This study aimed to determine whether manipulations of attention influence the amplitudes and latencies of MMN and P3a and, if so, the extent to which these early sensory processes govern concurrent behavioral vigilance performance in schizophrenia patients and normal subjects. METHODS Schizophrenia patients (SZ; n = 20) and Nonpsychiatric Control Subjects (NCS; n = 20) underwent auditory ERP testing to assess MMN and P3a across 4 EEG recording sessions in which attentional demand (low vs. high) and sensory modality of directed attention (visual vs. auditory) were experimentally varied. RESULTS Across conditions, SZ patients exhibited deficits in MMN and P3a amplitudes. Significant amplitude and latency modulation were observed in both SZ and NCS but there were no group-by-condition interactions. The amount of MMN amplitude attenuation from low- to high-demand tasks was significantly associated with increased vigilance performance in both SZ and NCS groups (r = -0.67 and r = -0.60). Several other robust associations were also observed among neurophysiologic, clinical and cognitive variables. CONCLUSIONS Attentional demand and modality of directed attention significantly influence the amplitude and latencies of "pre-attentive" ERP components in both SZ and NCS. Deficits in MMN and P3a were not "normalized" when attention was directed to the auditory stimuli in schizophrenia patients. The adaptive modulation of early sensory information processing appears to govern concurrent attentional task performance. The temporal window reflecting automatic sensory discrimination as indexed as MMN and P3a may serve as a gateway to some higher order cognitive operations necessary for psychosocial functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sung-Hyouk Park
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA,Department of Psychiatry, Chookryoung Evangelical Hospital, Namyangju, Gyeonggi, South Korea
| | - Jared W. Young
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, VISN-22 Mental Illness, Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), VA San Diego Healthcare System
| | | | - Catherine A. Sugar
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, Department of Biostatistics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, VISN-22 Mental Illness, Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System
| | - Joyce Sprock
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, VISN-22 Mental Illness, Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), VA San Diego Healthcare System
| | - Daniel J. Mathias
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
| | - Marlena Pela
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
| | - Richard F. Sharp
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
| | - David L. Braff
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, VISN-22 Mental Illness, Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), VA San Diego Healthcare System
| | - Gregory A. Light
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, VISN-22 Mental Illness, Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), VA San Diego Healthcare System
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29
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Hu L, Zhao C, Li H, Valentini E. Mismatch responses evoked by nociceptive stimuli. Psychophysiology 2012; 50:158-73. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2012] [Accepted: 10/11/2012] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Li Hu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education) and School of Psychology; Southwest University; Chongqing; China
| | - Chen Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education) and School of Psychology; Southwest University; Chongqing; China
| | - Hong Li
- Research Center of Psychological Development and Education; Liaoning Normal University; Liaoning; China
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30
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Regenbogen C, De Vos M, Debener S, Turetsky BI, Mössnang C, Finkelmeyer A, Habel U, Neuner I, Kellermann T. Auditory processing under cross-modal visual load investigated with simultaneous EEG-fMRI. PLoS One 2012; 7:e52267. [PMID: 23251704 PMCID: PMC3522643 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2012] [Accepted: 11/12/2012] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive task demands in one sensory modality (T1) can have beneficial effects on a secondary task (T2) in a different modality, due to reduced top-down control needed to inhibit the secondary task, as well as crossmodal spread of attention. This contrasts findings of cognitive load compromising a secondary modality’s processing. We manipulated cognitive load within one modality (visual) and studied the consequences of cognitive demands on secondary (auditory) processing. 15 healthy participants underwent a simultaneous EEG-fMRI experiment. Data from 8 participants were obtained outside the scanner for validation purposes. The primary task (T1) was to respond to a visual working memory (WM) task with four conditions, while the secondary task (T2) consisted of an auditory oddball stream, which participants were asked to ignore. The fMRI results revealed fronto-parietal WM network activations in response to T1 task manipulation. This was accompanied by significantly higher reaction times and lower hit rates with increasing task difficulty which confirmed successful manipulation of WM load. Amplitudes of auditory evoked potentials, representing fundamental auditory processing showed a continuous augmentation which demonstrated a systematic relation to cross-modal cognitive load. With increasing WM load, primary auditory cortices were increasingly deactivated while psychophysiological interaction results suggested the emergence of auditory cortices connectivity with visual WM regions. These results suggest differential effects of crossmodal attention on fundamental auditory processing. We suggest a continuous allocation of resources to brain regions processing primary tasks when challenging the central executive under high cognitive load.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina Regenbogen
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Medical School, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
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Dyson BJ. The advantage of ambiguity? Enhanced neural responses to multi-stable percepts correlate with the degree of perceived instability. Front Hum Neurosci 2011; 5:73. [PMID: 21897812 PMCID: PMC3159952 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2011.00073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2011] [Accepted: 07/18/2011] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Artwork can often pique the interest of the viewer or listener as a result of the ambiguity or instability contained within it. Our engagement with uncertain sensory experiences might have its origins in early cortical responses, in that perceptually unstable stimuli might preclude neural habituation and maintain activity in early sensory areas. To assess this idea, participants engaged with an ambiguous visual stimulus wherein two squares alternated with one another, in terms of simultaneously opposing vertical and horizontal locations relative to fixation (i.e., stroboscopic alternating motion; von Schiller, 1933). At each trial, participants were invited to interpret the movement of the squares in one of five ways: traditional vertical or horizontal motion, novel clockwise or counter-clockwise motion, and, a free-view condition in which participants were encouraged to switch the direction of motion as often as possible. Behavioral reports of perceptual stability showed clockwise and counter-clockwise motion to possess an intermediate level of stability compared to relatively stable vertical and horizontal motion, and, relatively unstable motion perceived during free-view conditions. Early visual evoked components recorded at parietal–occipital sites such as C1, P1, and N1 modulated as a function of visual intention. Both at a group and individual level, increased perceptual instability was related to increased negativity in all three of these early visual neural responses. Engagement with increasingly ambiguous input may partly result from the underlying exaggerated neural response to it. The study underscores the utility of combining neuroelectric recording with the presentation of perceptually multi-stable yet physically identical stimuli, in revealing brain activity associated with the purely internal process of interpreting and appreciating the sensory world that surrounds us.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin J Dyson
- Department of Psychology, Ryerson University Toronto, ON, Canada
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Geiser E, Sandmann P, Jäncke L, Meyer M. Refinement of metre perception--training increases hierarchical metre processing. Eur J Neurosci 2010; 32:1979-85. [PMID: 21050278 DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2010.07462.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Auditory metre perception refers to the ability to extract a temporally regular pulse and an underlying hierarchical structure of perceptual accents from a sequence of tones. Pulse perception is widely present in humans, and can be measured by the temporal expectancy for prospective tones, which listeners generate when presented with a metrical rhythm. We tested whether musical expertise leads to an increased perception and representation of the hierarchical structure of a metrical rhythm. Musicians and musical novices were tested in a mismatch negativity (MMN) paradigm for their sensitivity to perceptual accents on tones of the same pulse level (metre-congruent deviant) and on tones of a lower hierarchical level (metre-incongruent deviant). The difference between these two perceptual accents was more pronounced in the MMNs of the musicians than in those of the non-musicians. That is, musical expertise includes increased sensitivity to metre, specifically to its hierarchical structure. This enhanced higher-order temporal pattern perception makes musicians ideal models for investigating neural correlates of metre perception and, potentially, of related abstract pattern perception. Finally, our data show that small differences in sensitivity to higher-order patterns can be captured by means of an MMN paradigm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eveline Geiser
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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Näätänen R, Kujala T, Winkler I. Auditory processing that leads to conscious perception: A unique window to central auditory processing opened by the mismatch negativity and related responses. Psychophysiology 2010; 48:4-22. [PMID: 20880261 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.01114.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 338] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Risto Näätänen
- Department of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
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Winkler I, Denham SL, Nelken I. Modeling the auditory scene: predictive regularity representations and perceptual objects. Trends Cogn Sci 2009; 13:532-40. [PMID: 19828357 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2009.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 359] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2009] [Revised: 09/13/2009] [Accepted: 09/14/2009] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Predictive processing of information is essential for goal-directed behavior. We offer an account of auditory perception suggesting that representations of predictable patterns, or 'regularities', extracted from the incoming sounds serve as auditory perceptual objects. The auditory system continuously searches for regularities within the acoustic signal. Primitive regularities may be encoded by neurons adapting their response to specific sounds. Such neurons have been observed in many parts of the auditory system. Representations of the detected regularities produce predictions of upcoming sounds as well as alternative solutions for parsing the composite input into coherent sequences potentially emitted by putative sound sources. Accuracy of the predictions can be utilized for selecting the most likely interpretation of the auditory input. Thus in our view, perception generates hypotheses about the causal structure of the world.
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Affiliation(s)
- István Winkler
- Department of General Psychology, Institute for Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1394 Budapest, P.O. Box 398, Hungary.
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