Mismatch negativity to change in spatial location of an auditory stimulus

Abstract

Auditory stimulus blocks were presented to 12 reading subjects. Each block consisted of 2 types, standard ( P = 90%) and deviant stimuli ( P = 10%), delivered in a random order. The only difference between these stimuli was their spatial location of origin. The subject always heard the standards as coming straight in front and the deviants from an angle of either 10, 45, or 90° to the right of the standards. The spatial locations were produced via earphones by introducing for low-frequency (600 Hz) tones an interaural phase difference and for high-frequency (3000 Hz) tones an interaural intensity difference. Standard and deviant stimuli were also delivered in more natural, free-field, conditions via differently positioned loudspeakers. The deviant tones elicited an event-related brain potential component called the mismatch negativity (MMN), followed by a P3a component. Thus changes in spatial location of an auditory stimulus produced by following either one of the two main principles of human sound localization elicited the MMN. Consequently, it was concluded that the spatial location of a sound source is coded in the hypothesized neuronal stimulus traces reflected by the MMN and, further, that a change in this location is automatically detected by the brain by means of the MMN generator process.