Automatic auditory change detection in humans is influenced by visual-auditory associative learning.
Automatic detection of auditory changes that violate a regular sound sequence is indexed by the mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the event-related potential. The MMN is considered to reflect an auditory sensory memory and attention switching mechanism. Our aim was to study whether the auditory MMN can be associated with visual cues that have predictive value. By using visual cues that predicted the appearance of a deviant sound in most but not all of the cases, we were able to elicit MMN not only to the deviant sounds but also to those regular sounds that were misleadingly preceded by the visual cue. This result indicates high flexibility in the human automatic auditory change detection system, as it is affected by short-term visual-auditory associative learning.
Laine
Matti
M
Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. matti.laine@abo.fi
Kwon
Myoung Soo
MS
Hämäläinen
Heikki
H
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*