Event Abstract

Back to Event

Do first-impression bias effects in mismatch negativity (MMN) diminish with repeated exposure to sound sequences?

Jade D. Frost1*, Alexander Provost1, István Winkler2 and Juanita Todd1
  • 1 University of Newcastle, Psychology, Australia
  • 2 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, MTA, Hungary

The ability of the auditory system to detect patterning in sound sequences enables the system to predict the most likely characteristics of sound in the environment whilst remaining sensitive to sounds that deviate from predictions. If a sound deviates from an active ‘prediction model’, an evoked-potential component called mismatch-negativity (MMN) is elicited. MMN reflects a prediction-error when a discrepancy between inferred and actual sound properties occurs and is thought to be confidence-weighted where the higher the confidence (i.e. when patterns are stable), the larger the MMN following pattern violation. Using the ‘multi-timescale’ paradigm, we have consistently shown that MMN is susceptible to order-driven bias dependent on initial tone roles. In this study we show that the bias remains even with repeated exposure to sound sequences. Participants heard four occurrences of either stable or unstable sequences over headphones. Both sequences contained 60ms and 30ms tones that alternated the role of standard (p = .875) and deviant (p = .125). In stable sequences, tone roles alternated every 2.4min (480 tones per block; 420 standard tones, 60 deviant tones). In unstable sequences, tone roles alternated every 0.8min (160 tones per block; 140 standard tones, 20 deviant tones). Results were consistent with z confidence-weighted first-impression bias: More confident predictions for stimulus configurations matching the one first encountered than the reversed one. Remarkably, first-deviant MMN remained large while second-deviant MMN reduced with repeated presentation. Rather than diminishing, the primacy bias pattern appears to intensify with repeated sequence encounters.

References

Todd, J., Provost, A., Cooper, G. (2011). Lasting first impressions: A conservative bias in automatic filters of the acoustic environment. Neuropsychologia, 49, 3399-3405.
Todd, J., Heathcote, A., Mullens, D., Whitson, L. R., Provost, A., & Winkler, I. (2013). What controls gain in gain control? Mismatch negativity (MMN), priors and system biases. Brain topography, 1-12.
Winkler, I., Karmos, G., & Näätänen, R. (1996). Adaptive modeling of the unattended acoustic environment reflected in the mismatch negativity event-related potential. Brain research, 742, 239-252.

Keywords: context, Bias, First-impressions, auditory, mismatch negativity, EEG/ERP, inference

Conference: ASP2015 - 25th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Sydney, Australia, 2 Dec - 4 Dec, 2015.

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

Topic: Psychophysiology

Citation: Frost JD, Provost A, Winkler I and Todd J (2015). Do first-impression bias effects in mismatch negativity (MMN) diminish with repeated exposure to sound sequences?. Conference Abstract: ASP2015 - 25th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.219.00045

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: 28 Sep 2015; Published Online: 30 Nov 2015.

* Correspondence: Miss. Jade D Frost, University of Newcastle, Psychology, Newcastle, New South Wales, 2308, Australia, jade.frost@uon.edu.au