Modifying N1 amplitude: Training an expectation that delayed auditory sensations result from a self-initiated action
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1
UNSW Australia, Australia
Aim: Our ability to suppress self-generated sensations is dependent on the length of time between when an action is initiated and when the resultant sensory information is generated. Specifically, sensations that follow immediately from actions are attenuated to a larger degree than delayed sensations. The current study aimed to determine whether cortical responses to delayed self-initiated auditory events can be modified with training.
Method: Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings where undertaken while participants pressed a button to produce a tone that occurred either immediately or 100ms subsequent to the button-press. The event related potential (ERP) to the tone was generated, and the amplitude of N1 was extracted. Fifty participants were randomly assigned to one of two training groups; one group of participants (n=25) were repeatedly exposed to tones that followed immediately from their button-presses, whereas the other group (n=25) were repeatedly exposed to delayed tones. In order to evaluate the effect of training, participants’ evoked responses to immediate and delayed self-initiated tones were assessed before and after training.
Results: Pre-training, the mean amplitude of N1 was significantly larger for delayed tones compared to immediate tones. Participants who were trained to the delayed tones showed a reduction in N1 amplitude across training, such that there was no difference in N1 between immediate and delayed tones post-training. This was in contrast to the participants who received training to immediate tones, who maintained a significantly larger N1 to delayed tones over immediate tones post-training.
Conclusions: Repeated exposure to delayed sensory consequences of self-generated actions results in new learning about the temporal relationships between the action and the outcome, and, as such, increased cortical attenuation to temporally delayed sensations. This suggests that behavioural training could represent a potential avenue for alleviating sensory suppression deficits, such as those that have consistently been observed in patients with schizophrenia.
References
Elijah, R.B., Le Pelley, M.E. & Whitford, T.J. (2016). Modifying temporal expectations: Changing cortical responsivity to delayed self-initiated sensations with training. Biological Psychology, 120, 88-95.
Keywords:
Sensory Attenuation,
N1-suppression,
temporal expectation,
corollary discharge,
event-related potential (ERP)
Conference:
ASP2016 - The 26th Annual Meeting of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Adelaide Australia, Adelaide,SA, Australia, 12 Dec - 14 Dec, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Abstract (student award)
Citation:
Elijah
RB,
Le Pelley
ME and
Whitford
TJ
(2016). Modifying N1 amplitude: Training an expectation that delayed auditory sensations result from a self-initiated action.
Conference Abstract:
ASP2016 - The 26th Annual Meeting of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Adelaide Australia.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2016.221.00027
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Received:
19 Oct 2016;
Published Online:
05 Dec 2016.
*
Correspondence:
Ms. Ruth B Elijah, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia, ruth.elijah@unsw.edu.au