P3a Response Research Articles

An ERP study of good production vis-à-vis poor perception of tones in Cantonese: implications for top-down speech processing.

This study investigated a theoretically challenging dissociation between good production and poor perception of tones among neurologically unimpaired native speakers of Cantonese. The dissociation is referred to as the near-merger phenomenon in sociolinguistic studies of sound change. In a passive oddball paradigm, lexical and nonlexical syllables of the T1/T6 and T4/T6 contrasts were presented to elicit the mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a from two groups of participants, those who could produce and distinguish all tones in the language (Control) and those who could produce all tones but specifically failed to distinguish between T4 and T6 in perception (Dissociation). The presence of MMN to T1/T6 and null response to T4/T6 of lexical syllables in the dissociation group confirmed the near-merger phenomenon. The observation that the control participants exhibited a statistically reliable MMN to lexical syllables of T1/T6, weaker responses to nonlexical syllables of T1/T6 and lexical syllables of T4/T6, and finally null response to nonlexical syllables of T4/T6, suggests the involvement of top-down processing in speech perception. Furthermore, the stronger P3a response of the control group, compared with the dissociation group in the same experimental conditions, may be taken to indicate higher cognitive capability in attention switching, auditory attention or memory in the control participants. This cognitive difference, together with our speculation that constant top-down predictions without complete bottom-up analysis of acoustic signals in speech recognition may reduce one’s sensitivity to small acoustic contrasts, account for the occurrence of dissociation in some individuals but not others.

Separating acoustic deviance from novelty during the first year of life: a review of event-related potential evidence

Orienting to salient events in the environment is a first step in the development of attention in young infants. Electrophysiological studies have indicated that in newborns and young infants, sounds with widely distributed spectral energy, such as noise and various environmental sounds, as well as sounds widely deviating from their context elicit an event-related potential (ERP) similar to the adult P3a response. We discuss how the maturation of event-related potentials parallels the process of the development of passive auditory attention during the first year of life. Behavioral studies have indicated that the neonatal orientation to high-energy stimuli gradually changes to attending to genuine novelty and other significant events by approximately 9 months of age. In accordance with these changes, in newborns, the ERP response to large acoustic deviance is dramatically larger than that to small and moderate deviations. This ERP difference, however, rapidly decreases within first months of life and the differentiation of the ERP response to genuine novelty from that to spectrally rich but repeatedly presented sounds commences during the same period. The relative decrease of the response amplitudes elicited by high-energy stimuli may reflect development of an inhibitory brain network suppressing the processing of uninformative stimuli. Based on data obtained from healthy full-term and pre-term infants as well as from infants at risk for various developmental problems, we suggest that the electrophysiological indices of the processing of acoustic and contextual deviance may be indicative of the functioning of auditory attention, a crucial prerequisite of learning and language development.

Neural substrates of normal and impaired preattentive sensory discrimination in large cohorts of nonpsychiatric subjects and schizophrenia patients as indexed by MMN and P3a change detection responses

Schizophrenia (SZ) patients have information processing deficits, spanning from low level sensory processing to higher-order cognitive functions. Mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a are event-related potential (ERP) components that are automatically elicited in response to unattended changes in ongoing, repetitive stimuli that provide a window into abnormal information processing in SZ. MMN and P3a are among the most robust and consistently identified deficits in SZ, yet the neural substrates of these responses and their associated deficits in SZ are not fully understood. This study examined the neural sources of MMN and P3a components in a large cohort of SZ and nonpsychiatric control subjects (NCS) using Exact Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography Analyses (eLORETA) in order to identify the neural sources of MMN and P3a as well as the brain regions associated with deficits commonly observed among SZ patients. 410 SZ and 247 NCS underwent EEG testing using a duration-deviant auditory oddball paradigm (1-kHz tones, 500ms SOA; standard p=0.90, 50-ms duration; deviant tones P=0.10, 100-ms duration) while passively watching a silent video. Voxel-by-voxel within- (MMN vs. P3a) and between-group (SZ vs. NCS) comparisons were performed using eLORETA. SZ had robust deficits in MMN and P3a responses measured at scalp electrodes consistent with other studies. These components mapped onto neural sources broadly distributed across temporal, frontal, and parietal regions. MMN deficits in SZ were associated with reduced activations in discrete medial frontal brain regions, including the anterior-posterior cingulate and medial frontal gyri. These early sensory discriminatory MMN impairments were followed by P3a deficits associated with widespread reductions in the activation of attentional networks (frontal, temporal, parietal regions), reflecting impaired orienting or shifts of attention to the infrequent stimuli. MMN and P3a are dissociable responses associated with broadly distributed patterns of neural activation. MMN deficits among SZ patients appear to be primarily accounted for by reductions in medial prefrontal brain regions that are followed by widespread dysfunction across cortical networks associated with P3a in a manner that is consistent with hierarchical information processing models of cognitive deficits in SZ patients. Impairments in automatic stimulus discrimination may contribute to higher-order cognitive and psychosocial deficits in SZ.

Event-related potential patterns associated with hyperarousal in Gulf War illness syndrome groups

An exaggerated response to emotional stimuli is one of the several symptoms widely reported by veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Many have attributed these symptoms to post-war stress; others have attributed the symptoms to deployment-related exposures and associated damage to cholinergic, dopaminergic, and white matter systems. We collected event-related potential (ERP) data from 20 veterans meeting Haley criteria for Gulf War Syndromes 1–3 and from 8 matched Gulf War veteran controls, who were deployed but not symptomatic, while they performed an auditory three-condition oddball task with gunshot and lion roar sounds as the distractor stimuli. Reports of hyperarousal from the ill veterans were significantly greater than those from the control veterans; different ERP profiles emerged to account for their hyperarousability. Syndromes 2 and 3, who have previously shown brainstem abnormalities, show significantly stronger auditory P1 amplitudes, purported to indicate compromised cholinergic inhibitory gating in the reticular activating system. Syndromes 1 and 2, who have previously shown basal ganglia dysfunction, show significantly weaker P3a response to distractor stimuli, purported to indicate dysfunction of the dopaminergic contribution to their ability to inhibit distraction by irrelevant stimuli. All three syndrome groups showed an attenuated P3b to target stimuli, which could be secondary to both cholinergic and dopaminergic contributions or disruption of white matter integrity.

Cortical processing of musical sounds in children with Cochlear Implants

ObjectiveWe studied the neurocognitive mechanisms of musical instrument sound perception in children with Cochlear Implants (CIs) and in children with normal hearing (NH). MethodsERPs were recorded in a new multi-feature change-detection paradigm. Three magnitudes of change in fundamental frequency, musical instrument, duration, intensity increments and decrements, and presence of a temporal gap were presented amongst repeating 295Hz piano tones. Independent Component Analysis was utilized to remove artifacts caused by the Cochlear Implants. ResultsThe ERPs were similar in the two groups across all perceptual dimensions except for intensity increment deviants. CI children had smaller and earlier P1 responses compared to controls, and their MMN responses showed less accurate neural detection of changes of musical instrument, sound duration, and temporal structure. P3a responses suggested that poor neural detection of musical instruments affected their involuntary attention shift. ConclusionsThe similarities of neurocognitive processing are surprising in the light of the limited auditory input provided by the CI, suggesting that many types of changes are adequately processed by the CI children. SignificanceOur results indicate that CI children’s auditory cortical functioning may be enhanced, and difficulties in auditory perception and in attention switching towards sound events alleviated, by multisensory musical activities.

Orbitofrontal cortex biases attention to emotional events

We examined the role of orbitofrontal (OF) cortex in regulating emotion–attention interaction and the balance between involuntary and voluntary attention allocation. We studied patients with OF lesion applying reaction time (RT) and event-related potential (ERP) measures in a lateralized visual discrimination task with novel task-irrelevant affective pictures (unpleasant, pleasant, or neutral) preceding a neutral target. This allowed for comparing the effects of automatic attention allocation to emotional versus neutral stimuli on subsequent voluntary attention allocation to target stimuli. N2–P3a and N2–P3b ERP components served as measures of involuntary and voluntary attention allocation correspondingly. Enhanced N2–P3a amplitudes to emotional distractors and reduced N2–P3b amplitudes to targets preceded by emotional distractors were observed in healthy subjects, suggesting automatic emotional orienting interfered with subsequent voluntary orienting. OF patients showed an opposite pattern with tendency towards reduced N2–P3a responses to emotional distractors, suggesting impaired automatic orienting to emotional stimuli due to orbitofrontal damage. Enhanced N2–P3b responses to targets preceded by any affective distractor were observed in OF patients, suggesting bias towards voluntary target-related attention allocation due to orbitofrontal lesion. Behavioral evidence indicated that left visual field (LVF) attention performance was modulated by emotional stimuli. Specifically, OF patients responded faster to LVF targets subsequent to pleasant emotional distractors. We suggest that damage to the orbitofrontal circuitry leads to dysbalance between voluntary and involuntary attention allocation in the context of affective distractors with predisposition to posterior target-related processing over frontal novelty and affect-related processing. Furthermore, we suggest that orbitofrontal influence on emotion–attention interaction is valence and hemisphere dependent.

Music training enhances the rapid plasticity of P3a/P3b event-related brain potentials for unattended and attended target sounds

Neurocognitive studies have shown that extensive musical training enhances P3a and P3b event-related potentials for infrequent target sounds, which reflects stronger attention switching and stimulus evaluation in musicians than in nonmusicians. However, it is unknown whether the short-term plasticity of P3a and P3b responses is also enhanced in musicians. We compared the short-term plasticity of P3a and P3b responses to infrequent target sounds in musicians and nonmusicians during auditory perceptual learning tasks. Target sounds, deviating in location, pitch, and duration with three difficulty levels, were interspersed among frequently presented standard sounds in an oddball paradigm. We found that during passive exposure to sounds, musicians had habituation of the P3a, while nonmusicians showed enhancement of the P3a between blocks. Between active tasks, P3b amplitudes for duration deviants were reduced (habituated) in musicians only, and showed a more posterior scalp topography for habituation when compared to P3bs of nonmusicians. In both groups, the P3a and P3b latencies were shortened for deviating sounds. Also, musicians were better than nonmusicians at discriminating target deviants. Regardless of musical training, better discrimination was associated with higher working memory capacity. We concluded that music training enhances short-term P3a/P3b plasticity, indicating training-induced changes in attentional skills.

Effects of significance of auditory location changes on event related brain potentials and pitch discrimination performance

We examined effects of significance of task irrelevant changes in the location of tones on the mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a event related brain potentials. The participants were to discriminate between two frequency modulated tones differing from each other in the direction of frequency glide. Each tone was delivered through one of five loudspeakers in front of the participant. On most trials, a tone was presented from the same location as the preceding tone, but occasionally the location changed. In the Varying Location Condition, these changes, although irrelevant with regard to pitch discrimination, were still significant for performance as the following tones were presented from the new location where attention had to be therefore shifted. In the Fixed Location Condition, the location changes were less significant as the tones following a location change were presented from the original location. In both conditions, the location changes were associated with decreased hit rates and increased reaction times in the pitch discrimination task. However, the hit rate decrease was larger in the Fixed Location Condition suggesting that in this condition the location changes were just distractors. MMN and P3a responses were elicited by location changes in both conditions. In the Fixed Location Condition, a P3a was also elicited by the first tone following a location change at the original location while the MMN was not. Thus, the P3a appeared to be related to shifting of attention in space and was not tightly coupled with MMN elicitation.

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Threat Memory: Selective Reduction of Combat Threat Memory P300 Response After Right Frontal-Lobe Stimulation

Using the event-related potential P3a component as a marker, the authors tested the efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for reducing hyperarousability to specific threat stimuli in one Vietnam veteran with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), who exhibited an exaggerated P3a response to combat-related pictures. Twenty minutes of 1-Hz rTMS to the right prefrontal area effected a reduction in the P3a amplitude, whereas similar rTMS to the left prefrontal area did not. In addition to providing evidence for the effectiveness of right frontal rTMS for an exaggerated response to trauma-related stimuli, this study provides electrophysiological corroboration of subjective reports of PTSD symptoms.

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Threat Memory: Selective Reduction of Combat Threat Memory P300 Response After Right Frontal-Lobe Stimulation

Using the event-related potential P3a component as a marker, the authors tested the efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for reducing hyperarousability to specific threat stimuli in one Vietnam veteran with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), who exhibited an exaggerated P3a response to combat-related pictures. Twenty minutes of 1-Hz rTMS to the right prefrontal area effected a reduction in the P3a amplitude, whereas similar rTMS to the left prefrontal area did not. In addition to providing evidence for the effectiveness of right frontal rTMS for an exaggerated response to trauma-related stimuli, this study provides electrophysiological corroboration of subjective reports of PTSD symptoms.

Involuntary switching of attention mediates differences in event-related responses to complex tones between early and late Spanish–English bilinguals

Most research with bilinguals has used speech stimuli to demonstrate differences in auditory processing abilities. Two main factors have been identified as modulators of such differences: proficiency and age of acquisition of the second language (L2). However, whether the bilingual brain differs from the monolingual in the efficient processing of non-verbal auditory events (known to be critical to the acoustic analysis of the speech stream) remains unclear. In this EEG/ERP study, using the mismatch negativity (MMN), P3a, and late negativity (LN), we examined differences in discrimination, involuntary switching of attention and reorienting of attention between monolinguals and bilinguals as they processed complex tones. Further, we examined the role that age of acquisition plays in modulating such responses. A group of English monolinguals and a group of proficient Spanish–English bilinguals were presented with a multiple-deviant oddball paradigm with four deviant conditions (duration, frequency, silent gap, and frequency modulation). Late bilinguals, who learned English after age 10, exhibited larger MMN and P3a responses than early bilinguals, across all deviant conditions. Significant associations were found between amplitude of the responses and both age of L2 acquisition and years of L2 experience. Individuals who acquired English at later ages and had fewer years of L2 experience had larger MMN, P3a, and LN responses than those who learned it earlier. These findings demonstrate that age of L2 acquisition is an important modulator of auditory responses in bilinguals even when processing non-speech signals. Involuntary attention switching is suggested as the main factor driving these differences.

Electrophysiological correlates of accurate mental image formation in auditory perception and imagery tasks

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while listeners made intonation judgments about target notes that terminated a sequence of heard notes (bottom-up task) or a sequence of imagined notes (top-down task). We hypothesized that the neural processes underlying the accurate formation and evaluation of mental images would behave similarly in both tasks. In the imagery condition, the amplitude of the N100 component of the auditory evoked potential in response to the target tone was smaller for those listeners who formed more accurate mental images. It was comparable in amplitude to the N100 evoked when all of the notes leading to the target were heard, consistent with a process of habituation of the N100 in the auditory cortex due to the formation of a sequence of mental images. The P3a response – a marker of deviance detection – to mistuned targets was also found in the imagery condition and it was larger for listeners who formed more accurate images. Additionally, the influence of long-term implicit memory for tonal structure of Western music on the acuity of mental images was examined by comparing responses to leading tone (contextually unstable) and tonic (contextually stable) targets. Images were more accurate for targets that were related more closely to the established tonal context. The results suggest that successful top-down activation of pitch representations activates the same neural processes that underlie the N100 response to perceived notes, and that the engagement of these processes underlies successful detection of mistuning as indexed by the P3a component.

Brain responses to surprising sounds are related to temperament and parent–child dyadic synchrony in young children

This study investigated the relationship between temperament characteristics, parent-child dyadic synchrony and auditory event-related potentials (ERP) in 15 two-year-old children. Temperament was assessed with the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire, and parent-child dyadic synchrony was analyzed from video-taped play situations. Involuntary switching of attention toward surprising sounds was measured with auditory ERPs by quantifying the P3a response for repeated and nonrepeated novel, naturally varying sounds, presented in a continuous repetitive sound sequence. Lower negative emotionality, higher effortful control and higher dyadic synchrony were associated with larger P3a responses to repeated novel sounds. The results demonstrate that temperament is related to P3a responses in early childhood, and that parent-child synchrony associates with both temperament and P3a responses in a theoretically meaningful way.

Difficulty of Discrimination Modulates Attentional Capture by Regulating Attentional Focus

Attentional capture for distractors is enhanced by increasing the difficulty of discrimination between the standard and the target in the three-stimulus oddball paradigm. In this study, we investigated the cognitive mechanism of this modulation of attentional capture. Event-related brain potentials were recorded from participants while they performed a visual three-stimulus oddball paradigm (frequent standard, rare target, and rare distractor). The discrimination difficulty between standard and target was manipulated in the central location. Distractor stimuli were presented in the central or surrounding locations. The P3a component was elicited by distractor stimuli and was used as a measure of attentional capture. The results revealed that discrimination difficulty had opposite effects on the P3a response between central and surrounding locations. With an increase in the difficulty of discrimination, the P3a response was enhanced when distractor stimuli were presented in the central location. In contrast, the P3a response was reduced when distractor stimuli were presented in a surrounding location. This finding suggests that spatial attention was focused by the difficulty of discrimination, and deviant processing was increased within its focus but decreased outside its focus. Therefore, attentional capture for deviant distractors is modulated by top-down controlled attentional focus.

Brain function decline in healthy retired athletes who sustained their last sports concussion in early adulthood

Recent studies have shown that the detrimental effects of sports concussions on cognitive and motor function may persist up to a few years post-injury. The present study sought to investigate the effects of having sustained a sports concussion more than 30 years prior to testing on cognitive and motor functions. Nineteen healthy former athletes, in late adulthood (mean age = 60.79; SD = 5.16), who sustained their last sport-related concussion in early adulthood (mean age = 26.05; SD = 9.21) were compared with 21 healthy former athletes with no history of concussion (mean age = 58.89; SD = 9.07). Neuropsychological tests sensitive to age-related changes in cognition were administered. An auditory oddball paradigm was used to evoke P3a and P3b brain responses. Four TMS paradigms were employed to assess motor cortex excitability: (i) resting motor threshold; (ii) paired-pulse intracortical inhibition and intracortical facilitation; (iii) input/output curve and (iv) cortical silent period (CSP). A rapid alternating movement task was also used to characterize motor system dysfunctions. Relative to controls, former athletes with a history of concussion had: (i) lower performance on neuropsychological tests of episodic memory and response inhibition; (ii) significantly delayed and attenuated P3a/P3b components; (iii) significantly prolonged CSP and (iv) significantly reduced movement velocity (bradykinesia). The finding that the P3, the CSP as well as neuropsychological and motor indices were altered more than three decades post-concussion provides evidence for the chronicity of cognitive and motor system changes consecutive to sports concussion.

Brain responses to changes in primary musical features in 2-3-year-olds

Event Abstract Back to Event Brain responses to changes in primary musical features in 2-3-year-olds Vesa Putkinen1, 2*, Riikka Niinikur1, 2, Mari Tervaniemi1, 2 and Minna Huotilainen1, 2 1 Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland 2 Department of Music, University of Jyväskylä , Finland Background: Children's sensitivity to regularities and changes in different auditory features can be studied noninvasively with event-related potentials (ERPs). The mismatch negativity (MMN) ERP response reflects the accuracy of the auditory change-detection mechanism. The P3a response, in turn, reflects the functioning of the automatic attention allocation system. Due to the lack of a suitable paradigm, very few studies have used these responses to examine children’s ability to detect to changes in multiple auditory features. Recently, a fast multi-feature paradigm (MFP) was developed for obtaining MMN responses to 5 auditory change types (“deviant tones”) in a single recording of a relatively short duration. We added attention-catching sounds (“novel sounds”) to the paradigm for obtaining P3a responses. Aim: To test the suitability of the modified MFP for studying young children. Methods: We recorded MMN and P3a responses from 14 2-3-year-old children in the modified MFP. In addition to the traditional group level analysis, the responses of each individual subject were also examined. Conclusion: We found that the modified MFP is well suited for recording individual ERP profiles reflecting auditory change-detection, auditory memory and attentional functions in young children. Conference: Tuning the Brain for Music, Helsinki, Finland, 5 Feb - 6 Feb, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Posters Citation: Putkinen V, Niinikur R, Tervaniemi M and Huotilainen M (2009). Brain responses to changes in primary musical features in 2-3-year-olds. Conference Abstract: Tuning the Brain for Music. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.02.021 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: 26 Jan 2009; Published Online: 26 Jan 2009. * Correspondence: Vesa Putkinen, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, vesa.putkinen@helsinki.fi 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 Vesa Putkinen Riikka Niinikur Mari Tervaniemi Minna Huotilainen Google Vesa Putkinen Riikka Niinikur Mari Tervaniemi Minna Huotilainen Google Scholar Vesa Putkinen Riikka Niinikur Mari Tervaniemi Minna Huotilainen PubMed Vesa Putkinen Riikka Niinikur Mari Tervaniemi Minna Huotilainen 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.

Fast measurement of auditory event-related potential profiles in 2-3-year-olds

Event Abstract Back to Event Fast measurement of auditory event-related potential profiles in 2-3-year-olds Vesa Putkinen1, 2*, R. Niinikuru1, 2, M. Tervaniemi1, 2 and Minna Huotilainen1, 2 1 Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland 2 Department of Music, University of Jyväskylä , Finland Children’s sensitivity to regularities and changes in different auditory features can be studied noninvasively with event-related potentials (ERPs). The mismatch negativity (MMN) ERP response reflects the accuracy of the auditory change-detection mechanism. The P3a response, in turn, reflects the functioning of the automatic attention allocation system. Due to the lack of a suitable paradigm, very few studies have used these responses to examine children’s ability to detect to changes in multiple auditory features. Recently, a fast multi-feature paradigm (MFP) was developed by Näätänen et al. for obtaining MMN responses to multiple auditory change types (“deviant tones”) in a single recording of a relatively short duration. The deviant tones differed from the standard tones in one of five features, namely, in frequency, duration, intensity, perceived spatial origin or by having a silent gap in the middle of the sound. We added attention-catching sounds (“novel sounds”) to the paradigm for obtaining P3a responses. We recorded MMN and P3a responses from 14 children aged 2-3-years in the modified MFP. In addition to the traditional group level analysis, the responses of each individual subject were also examined. We found that the modified MFP is well suited for recording individual ERP profiles reflecting auditory change-detection, auditory memory and attentional functions in young children. Conference: MMN 09 Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications, Budapest, Hungary, 4 Apr - 7 Apr, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Presentations Citation: Putkinen V, Niinikuru R, Tervaniemi M and Huotilainen M (2009). Fast measurement of auditory event-related potential profiles in 2-3-year-olds. Conference Abstract: MMN 09 Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.05.069 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: 24 Mar 2009; Published Online: 24 Mar 2009. * Correspondence: Vesa Putkinen, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, vesa.putkinen@helsinki.fi 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 Vesa Putkinen R. Niinikuru M. Tervaniemi Minna Huotilainen Google Vesa Putkinen R. Niinikuru M. Tervaniemi Minna Huotilainen Google Scholar Vesa Putkinen R. Niinikuru M. Tervaniemi Minna Huotilainen PubMed Vesa Putkinen R. Niinikuru M. Tervaniemi Minna Huotilainen 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.

FMRI signs of involuntary and voluntary auditory attention

Event Abstract Back to Event fMRI signs of involuntary and voluntary auditory attention Kimmo A. Alho1* 1 Department of Psychology,Advanced Magnetic Imaging Centre, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland The auditory-cortex component of mismatch negativity (MMN) event-related brain potential to deviant auditory events is evidently generated by pre-attentive change detection. The MMN component generated in the frontal cortex, in turn, has been associated with subsequent initiation of involuntary attention. An MMN to slightly deviant events is followed by a small positive P3a component, generated mainly in the auditory cortex. A larger P3a to widely deviant events, such as novel environmental sounds in a stream of tones, appears to get additional contributions from parietal and prefrontal cortices. These P3a responses have been related to actual switching of attention to and evaluation of the eliciting event. This has been supported by a decrease in performance speed or accuracy, or both, caused by task-irrelevant deviant auditory events eliciting MMN and P3a. Our recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies indicate that such distracting events are followed by enhanced activity in auditory, parietal, and prefrontal cortical areas. These areas partly overlap with those showing activity enhancements related to voluntary orienting and maintenance of attention and to subsequent task-related processes. Perhaps deviant auditory events distract performance in an attention demanding task due to this overlap. However, the overlap might be also due to attempts to fight against distraction and concentrate on task performance leading to enhanced task-related brain activity after a distracting auditory event. Whichever is the case, enhanced activity in the auditory, parietal and prefrontal cortices following deviant auditory events may contribute to MMN and P3a responses to these events. Conference: MMN 09 Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications, Budapest, Hungary, 4 Apr - 7 Apr, 2009. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Symposium 6: Attention and consciousness Citation: Alho KA (2009). fMRI signs of involuntary and voluntary auditory attention. Conference Abstract: MMN 09 Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.05.087 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: 25 Mar 2009; Published Online: 25 Mar 2009. * Correspondence: Kimmo A Alho, Department of Psychology,Advanced Magnetic Imaging Centre, Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki,Espoo, Finland, kimmo.alho@helsinki.fi 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 Kimmo A Alho Google Kimmo A Alho Google Scholar Kimmo A Alho PubMed Kimmo A Alho 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.

Khalid Naji

<h3>Abstract</h3> Many natural sounds have frequency spectra composed of integer multiples of a fundamental frequency. This property, known as harmonicity, plays an important role in auditory information processing. However, the...

Wavelet analysis of the EEG during the neurocognitive evaluation of invalidly cued targets

In a spatial central cueing paradigm, positions in the horizontal meridian were cued to evaluate the neurocognitive processing of validly (V) and invalidly cued (I) targets. ERPs were obtained from 20 EEG channel recordings. Complex Morlet wavelets were applied for computing event-related spectral power (ERSP) modulations and inter-trial phase coherence (ITC). P3a and P3b responses were increased in a statistically significant manner in I targets with regard to V targets. This increase seems to be generated only by phase resetting without enhancement of spectral power. Comparing ERSP modulations between I and V target trials we found a major effect centred in the alpha range. The following results were obtained for invalid condition in relation to valid condition: 6–12Hz ERSP decrease topographically widespread over the scalp, starting around 450ms and peaking around 650ms; 10–14Hz ERSP increase peaking around 200ms at fronto-central electrodes; and 10–14Hz ERSP decrease occurring from 400 to 600ms at posterior electrodes. Therefore, the invalidity effect indeed produces salient changes in the stimulus related and ongoing neuronal activity leading to a brain state of comparative higher activity both excitatory and inhibitory with respect to the validly cued target processing.