Scanning the world in three seconds: Mismatch negativity as an indicator of temporal segmentation.
It has been shown recently that a temporal window of approximately 3 s has a modulatory effect on mismatch negativity (MMN). This special temporal window has been interpreted as representing the "subjective present," and reflecting a temporal segmentation in behavioral and cognitive functions. A more detailed look into the temporal structure of the MMN appeared to be reasonable as group data might shadow the underlying mechanisms because of too-high response variance. In this study, we tested one subject on 11 successive days at the same circadian phase using a passive auditory oddball paradigm with interstimulus intervals (ISIs) ranging from 1 s to 6 s. We observed a U-shape function of MMN showing the largest amplitudes to the oddball stimuli with an ISI of 2 s and 3 s being flanked by smaller response amplitudes for shorter and longer ISIs. This result pattern can be explained with an oscillatory neural mechanism underlying the temporal modulation of MMN. Besides confirming and substantiating temporal segmentation in sensory processing, the present study also demonstrates that a single case study can be a useful and complementary tool in cognitive research.
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Lingyan
L
Wang
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China. baoyan@pku.edu.cn.|Institute of Medical Psychology and Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany. baoyan@pku.edu.cn.
Yan
Y
Bao
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Jiyuan
J
Zhang
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Xiaoxiong
X
Lin
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Lang
L
Yang
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.|Institute of Medical Psychology and Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.|Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Ernst
E
Pöppel
Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. zhoub@psych.ac.cn.
Bin
B
Zhou
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D046709:Pattern Recognition, Physiological / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
event-related potential; mismatch negativity; oddball paradigm; single-case study; time window