Related Experiment Videos
MMN and attention: competition for deviance detection
Elyse Sussman1, István Winkler, Wenjung Wang
1Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, New York 10461, USA. esussman@aecom.yu.edu
Psychophysiology
|August 30, 2003
Summary
Mismatch negativity (MMN) is not attention-independent. Competition between auditory channels, not attention itself, influences MMN, especially for frequency deviations.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuroscience
Background:
- The mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event-related potential reflecting auditory change detection.
- Previous research yielded conflicting results on whether MMN is sensitive to selective attention, particularly for frequency versus intensity deviations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of attentional competition in MMN generation.
- To test the hypothesis that task-induced competition between auditory channels explains attentional effects on MMN.
Main Methods:
- A dichotic listening paradigm was employed.
- Auditory stimuli with frequency and intensity deviations were presented.
- Competition for MMN processing was manipulated between attended and unattended auditory channels.
Main Results:
- Frequency MMN was abolished in the unattended channel when competition was present.
- Intensity MMN amplitude remained unaffected by attentional manipulation.
- These findings indicate that competition, not attention per se, modulates MMN.
Conclusions:
- The MMN is not inherently attention-dependent.
- Top-down attentional processes resolve competition for MMN resources when multiple auditory changes occur.
- Deviance detection relies on attentional gating when MMN resources are limited.