Effects of Acoustic Context on the Perceptual Differences between Spatial Sound Stimuli

Abstract

We studied the effects of the acoustic context on active and passive discrimination of moving sound signals. Different contexts were created by reversing the role of standard and deviant stimuli in the oddball blocks, while their acoustical features were kept the same. Three types of sounds were used as standard or deviant stimuli in different blocks: stationary midline noises and two (smooth and abrupt) moving sounds moving to the left or right of the midline. Auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during passive listening (the sound stimulation ignored), and mismatch negativity potentials (MMNs) were obtained. Active discrimination of sound movements was measured by the hit rate (percent correct responses) and false alarm rate, as well as the reaction time. The influence of the stimulus context on active and passive discrimination of the moving sound stimuli was reflected in the phenomenon known as the effect of deviance direction. The hit rate and MMN amplitude were higher when the deviant moved faster than the standard. The MMN amplitude was more responsive to the velocity of sound stimuli than the hit rate and false alarm rate. The psychophysical measurements in the reversed contexts suggest that smooth and abrupt sound movements may belong to the same perceptual category (moving sounds), while the stationary stimuli form another perceptual category.