title: Preattentive extraction of abstract feature conjunctions from auditory stimulation as reflected by the mismatch negativity (MMN).
abstract: Brain mechanisms extracting invariant information from varying auditory inputs were studied using the mismatch-negativity (MMN) brain response. We wished to determine whether the preattentive sound-analysis mechanisms, reflected by MMN, are capable of extracting invariant relationships based on abstract conjunctions between two sound features. The standard stimuli varied over a large range in frequency and intensity dimensions following the rule that the higher the frequency, the louder the intensity. The occasional deviant stimuli violated this frequency-intensity relationship and elicited an MMN. The results demonstrate that preattentive processing of auditory stimuli extends to unexpectedly complex relationships between the stimulus features.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland. Petri.Paavilainen@Helsinki.Fi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paavilainen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Simola
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jaramillo
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Näätänen
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Winkler
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male