Event Abstract Back to Event Investigating the Ecological Validity of Predictive Auditory Processing Martin Reiche1*, Andreas Widmann2 and Alexandra Bendixen3 1 Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Auditory Psychophysiology Lab, Department of Psychology, Germany 2 University of Leipzig, Cognitive incl. Biological Psychology, Department of Psychology, Germany 3 Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Auditory Psychophysiology Lab, Department of Psychology, Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Germany Predictive processing has been shown to play a crucial role in auditory perception. Predictable parts of a sound mixture can be pre-processed and attenuated, which saves resources for the processing of less predictable (hence more informative) parts of the signal. Studies usually investigate this phenomenon by contrasting the processing of unpredictable signals against perfectly predictable signals. However, predictability in natural signals is often compromised by uncertainty; hence the proposed predictive mechanism is only plausible if it can be shown to dynamically adapt to the certainty provided by the sensory context. We investigated this issue by adapting an event-related potential (ERP) paradigm in which predictability is implemented via frequency repetition in a passive listening situation. Predictive uncertainty was introduced by systematically varying the accuracy of frequency repetition over five conditions from fully predictable (perfectly accurate repetition) to fully unpredictable (deviation from repetition covering the whole available frequency range). ERP correlates of predictive processing show graded effects depending on the predictive certainty embedded in the stimulation. These results indicate that the auditory system dynamically adapts to the degree of predictive certainty, suggesting that the predictive mechanism is ecologically valid (i.e., it is still functional even when the stimuli cannot be predicted with full certainty). Keywords: Auditory Perception, EEG, prediction, event-related potential, passive listening, pre-stimulus ERPs Conference: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Sensation and Perception Citation: Reiche M, Widmann A and Bendixen A (2015). Investigating the Ecological Validity of Predictive Auditory Processing. Conference Abstract: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00388 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 Feb 2015; Published Online: 24 Apr 2015. * Correspondence: Mr. Martin Reiche, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Auditory Psychophysiology Lab, Department of Psychology, Oldenburg, Germany, martin.reiche@uni-oldenburg.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Martin Reiche Andreas Widmann Alexandra Bendixen Google Martin Reiche Andreas Widmann Alexandra Bendixen Google Scholar Martin Reiche Andreas Widmann Alexandra Bendixen PubMed Martin Reiche Andreas Widmann Alexandra Bendixen Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.