Abstract
Weise, A., Schröger, E., Fehér, B., Folyi, T., & Horváth, J. (2012). Auditory event-related potentials reflect dedicated change detection activity for higher-order acoustic transients. Biological Psychology, 91(1), 142-149.
Auditory event-related potentials reflect dedicated change detection activity for higher-order acoustic transients
The processing of auditory changes at cortical level relies partly on dedicated change-detectors whose activity is reflected in the elicitation of the N1 and P2 event-related potentials (ERPs). In previous studies, N1 and P2 have been found only for first-order frequency transitions (i.e. constant-to-glide) but not for higher-order transitions (i.e. glide-to-constant). We tested whether this asymmetry is due to the complete lack, or the smaller number of dedicated higher-order change detectors compared to first-order change detectors by recording ERPs to constant-to-glide and glide-to-constant frequency transitions within pure and complex tones. For constant-to-glide transitions ERP amplitudes increased with the rate of frequency change and spectral complexity. Importantly, for glide-to-constant transitions, N1 was elicited, even though only for spectrally rich tones when the frequency-change rate was fastest. Thus, the asymmetry in auditory change-related N1 elicitation is attributable not to the lack of higher-order change detectors, but to their relatively low number.
Contact
Cognitive and Biological Psychology
University of Leipzig
Faculty of Life Sciences
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D-04109 Leipzig
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Dagmar Schrödl
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