Regularity extraction and stimulus prediction in dynamically changing acoustic environments
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1
Institute for Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary
Sound sequences in the traditional auditory oddball paradigm follow the same characteristics over long periods of time. In ‘real life’, the auditory system is faced with much more complex scenarios since the acoustic environment is constantly changing. We will present two experiments which model such dynamic situations and show 1) that the auditory system can cope with the adaptation requirements and 2) that it does so by using predictability in the auditory input.
In a first study, we challenged the flexibility of rule extraction by means of complex predictive relations to which the auditory system was exposed for just brief periods of time. A rule defined by predictivity between different features of temporally separate events (of the type ‘the duration of the current tone predicts the frequency of the next tone’) was embedded in a dynamic protocol. The auditory stimuli were arranged such that the rule had to be extracted anew for each occurrence. MMN elicitation demonstrates that such predictive relations can be extracted from about fifteen to twenty successive rule-conforming events. These results suggest a rapid adaptation of the auditory system to predictive relations in the environment.
In a second study, we investigated whether the system uses the extracted predictability for actually generating predictions about upcoming stimuli. We manipulated tone predictability in a stimulus omission paradigm by presenting frequency repetitions and occasionally omitting either the first or the second tone of a frequency pair. Specific activity was elicited by the omission of a second (predictable) relative to the omission of a first (unpredictable) tone. This prediction-related activity provides evidence for the predictive character of human audition, which enables the auditory system to prepare for future acoustic events.
Conference:
MMN 09
Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications, Budapest, Hungary, 4 Apr - 7 Apr, 2009.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Symposium 2: Predictive models within and of MMN
Citation:
Bendixen
A
(2009). Regularity extraction and stimulus prediction in dynamically changing acoustic environments.
Conference Abstract:
MMN 09
Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications.
doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.05.017
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Received:
19 Mar 2009;
Published Online:
19 Mar 2009.
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Correspondence:
Alexandra Bendixen, Institute for Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary, bendixen@cogpsyphy.hu