When sound and picture do not fit: Mismatch negativity and sensory interaction.
The Mismatch Negativity (MMN), an index of auditory stimulus representation, was studied in a design of simultaneous auditory and visual stimulus presentation. A counting task drew the attention of participants to picture presentation and was unrelated to the occurring sounds. With the picture of a hammer hitting a nail a standard sound "bang" came along. Rarely, a deviant picture showed the hammer hitting the finger combined with a corresponding deviant sound "ouch." Sometimes this deviant picture was combined with the standard sound. In spite of the absence of a sound deviancy to the standard sounds, also in the latter case a significant MMN was detected, indicating that the actual visual context affected the incoming auditory information leading to a mismatch with the prevailing auditory memory trace. Herewith, MMN gains importance as an index of auditory stimulus representation also in studies of sensory interaction.
Ullsperger
Peter
P
Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Noeldnerstr. 40/42, 10317 Berlin, Germany.
Erdmann
Udo
U
Freude
Gabriele
G
Dehoff
Waltraut
W
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D013016:Sound