Examining a new paradigm for simultaneous evaluation of mismatch response (MMR) and complex auditory brainstem response (cABR) for speech in MEG

Abstract

The mismatch response (MMR) is a common neural signature, both in M/EEG, to evaluate neural sensitivity to sound change. Furthermore, the complex auditory brainstem response (cABR) has gained wide research interest recently as it is argued to reflect early sensory encoding of complex sounds, such as speech, along the auditory pathway. While both measures are important in infants as babies undergo rapid speech learning, they also share the crucial drawback that it takes many trials and thus long recording times, prohibiting a wide usage in infant population. Here, we investigate a new and more efficient recording paradigm to simultaneously assess both MMR and cABR for speech in MEG. Adult participants are recorded under this new paradigm using simultaneous M/EEG with previously published speech stimuli. For MMR, we aim to replicate previously published results that MMR for a native speech contrast is more concentrated than for a nonnative speech contrast. For cABR, we aim to extract a predominant spatiotemporal pattern from all MEG channels and examine its correlation with the EEG-recorded signal. Once the new paradigm can be validated in adults, it can be used in infant populations with much increased efficiency, opening the door for addressing new research questions.