Rule extraction and application in dynamic tone sequences
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1
University of Leipzig, Germany
Many events in the auditory environment occur in a predictable manner, such as the sound of a train passing by, which gradually changes in location and intensity. We investigated how the auditory system extracts such predictable event behavior. Predictability was simulated by rules embedded in tone sequences. We developed a dynamic experimental protocol to create an environment in which rules constantly emerge and vanish. Participants were presented with continuous series of tones containing regular and irregular sequences in unpredictable succession. In three experiments, we incorporated rules of increasing complexity into this protocol. In successive conditions, participants were instructed to a) ignore the tones (passive paradigm), b) perform a task related to the tones but not to the rules (distraction paradigm), and c) attend the rules and respond to rule violations (detection paradigm). These different tasks provide an insight into the consequences of rule extraction on attentional orienting and behavior. Participants’ behavioral and electrophysiological responses to rule-conforming and rule-violating events in the sequences were recorded and analyzed depending on the length of the preceding regular sequence. Processing modulations as a function of the rule-conformance of an event indicate the detection of the underlying rule. In order to reveal the cortical areas involved, the obtained event-related potentials (MMN, N2b, P3a, P3b, RON) were analyzed topographically (SCD) and tomographically (VARETA). Results reveal that rules were extracted equally fast whether participants did or did not pay attention to the tones and rules. This underlines the automatic character of the involved brain mechanism. The rapidity of rule extraction was influenced by rule complexity, indicating a flexible adaptation of the auditory system to the plausibility of each rule. Furthermore, the automatic detection of rule-violating events elicited involuntary attentional orienting. Depending on the current task, this facilitated the intentional detection of deviations (detection paradigm) or caused interference with other mental processes to enable a relevance check of the unexpected event (distraction paradigm). The immediate application of just emerging rules illustrates that automatic rule extraction in the auditory system has an important functional role for the adaptive behavior of the organism.
Conference:
10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Türkiye, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Change Detection
Citation:
Bendixen
A and
Schröger
E
(2008). Rule extraction and application in dynamic tone sequences.
Conference Abstract:
10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience.
doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.154
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Received:
05 Dec 2008;
Published Online:
05 Dec 2008.
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Correspondence:
Alexandra Bendixen, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, bendixen@psychologie.uni-leipzig.de