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Does Sequence Foreknowledge or Concurrent Task Affect First-Impression Bias in Mismatch Negativity?

Jade D. Frost1*, Kelly McDonnell1, Alexander L. Provost1 and Juanita Todd1
  • 1 University of Newcastle, Psychology, Australia

The auditory system accumulates evidence about regularity across varying timescales to model predictions about subsequent sound. The evoked-potential component mismatch-negativity (MMN) is elicited upon detection of any pattern-deviation and reflects a ‘prediction-error’. MMN amplitude is proportional to ‘confidence’ in underlying predictions; MMN is largest when patterns are very stable. Using a ‘multi-timescale’ paradigm, we have consistently demonstrated that MMN amplitude does not faithfully reflect sequence stability but instead succumbs to a ‘first-impression bias’ that is coupled to initial tone roles. In the paradigm participants hear two-tone sequences in which tones alternate roles of standard (p = .875) and deviant (p = .125). In stable sequences, roles alternate every 2.4min (480 tones per block; 420-standard, 60-deviant). In unstable sequences, roles alternate every 0.8min (160 tones per block; 140-standard, 20-deviant). The first-impression bias refers to the observation that only MMN in the first stimulus configuration show the expected stability-modulation (stable>unstable). To date all multi-timescale paradigms have been presented while participants have no knowledge of the sequence structure and watch a silent movie. In this study, we attempted to disrupt the bias by modifying engagement of higher-level brain areas in monitoring longer-term patterns thought to underpin it. The primacy bias pattern did not occur when participants performed a demanding concurrent N-Back task (study-1) or were first informed about the sequence structure (study-2) before watching a silent movie. Our results are interpreted as evidence that engagement of higher-order brain areas is required to make predictions about patterning over longer timescales.

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Keywords: context, Bias, First-impressions, auditory, Mismatch Negativity., ERP/EEG, predictive coding, salience coding, Prediction error

Conference: ASP2015 - 25th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Sydney, Australia, 2 Dec - 4 Dec, 2015.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Psychophysiology

Citation: Frost JD, McDonnell K, Provost AL and Todd J (2015). Does Sequence Foreknowledge or Concurrent Task Affect First-Impression Bias in Mismatch Negativity?. Conference Abstract: ASP2015 - 25th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.219.00044

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Received: 28 Sep 2015; Published Online: 30 Nov 2015.

* Correspondence: Miss. Jade D Frost, University of Newcastle, Psychology, Newcastle, New South Wales, 2300, Australia, jade.frost@uon.edu.au