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The neural generators of visual mismatch: a shared frontal generator across modalities

Authors:
Craig Hedge at Aston University
Craig Hedge
Jenna Todd Jones at University of Bath
Jenna Todd Jones
George Stothart at University of Bath
George Stothart
Priscila Rojas Frías at Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía
Priscila Rojas Frías
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Abstract

The neural generators of visual mismatch: A shared frontal generator across modalities Craig Hedge1, George Stothart1, Jenna Todd Jones1, Priscila Rojas Frias1, Kristopher Magee1, Ute Leonards1, Nina Kazanina1, Elanor Hinton1,2, Jamila Andoh1,2, Jade Thai1,2, Jonathan Brooks1,2;1University of Bristol, 2Bristol Clinical Research and Imaging Centre The automatic detection of change in low-level stimuli characteristics is a core component of our attentional mechanisms. An electrophysiological marker of this mechanism, the mismatch negativity (MMN; Näätänen, Gaillard & Mäntysalo, 1978), has been studied prominently in the auditory domain, with cortical generators identified in temporal and frontal regions (Deouell, 2007; Garrido, Kilner, Stephan & Friston, 2009). In contrast, the cortical generators of its counterpart in the visual modality, the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), have yet to be established. Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess whether the frontal regions associated with MMN in the auditory domain also play a role in the vMMN. Twenty healthy young adults completed a vMMN task in separate EEG and block-design fMRI sessions. The task consisted of a centrally presented target detection task, flanked vertically by rapidly presented single or double white bars, with stimulus type counter-balanced within participants. Participants were instructed to attend to the central target, and respond if it changed colour. In ‘standard’ blocks, the flankers did not change, whereas ‘deviant’ blocks contained 6.25% of the alternate stimulus type. Separate region of interest analyses were conducted on left and right middle frontal (MFG) and inferior frontal (IFG) gyri,(the frontal areas identified as potential auditory MMN generators), using a non-parametric cluster based permutation test technique. A significant increase in activation was observed in the left MFG and IFG in response to blocks containing deviant stimuli. These findings provide support for a common frontal generator for MMN across modalities. Primary Keyword = ATTENTION: Nonspatial Secondary Keyword = ATTENTION: Multisensory
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Abstract
The neural generators of visual mismatch: A shared frontal generator across modalities
Craig Hedge1, George Stothart1, Jenna Todd Jones1, Priscila Rojas Frias1, Kristopher Magee1, Ute Leonards1, Nina
Kazanina1, Elanor Hinton1,2, Jamila Andoh1,2, Jade Thai1,2, Jonathan Brooks1,2;1University of Bristol, 2Bristol
Clinical Research and Imaging Centre
The automatic detection of change in low-level stimuli characteristics is a core component of our attentional
mechanisms. An electrophysiological marker of this mechanism, the mismatch negativity (MMN; Näätänen, Gaillard
& Mäntysalo, 1978), has been studied prominently in the auditory domain, with cortical generators identified in
temporal and frontal regions (Deouell, 2007; Garrido, Kilner, Stephan & Friston, 2009). In contrast, the cortical
generators of its counterpart in the visual modality, the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), have yet to be
established. Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess whether the frontal regions
associated with MMN in the auditory domain also play a role in the vMMN. Twenty healthy young adults completed a
vMMN task in separate EEG and block-design fMRI sessions. The task consisted of a centrally presented target
detection task, flanked vertically by rapidly presented single or double white bars, with stimulus type counter-
balanced within participants. Participants were instructed to attend to the central target, and respond if it changed
colour. In ‘standard’ blocks, the flankers did not change, whereas ‘deviant’ blocks contained 6.25% of the alternate
stimulus type. Separate region of interest analyses were conducted on left and right middle frontal (MFG) and inferior
frontal (IFG) gyri,(the frontal areas identified as potential auditory MMN generators), using a non-parametric cluster
based permutation test technique. A significant increase in activation was observed in the left MFG and IFG in
response to blocks containing deviant stimuli. These findings provide support for a common frontal generator for
MMN across modalities.
Primary Keyword = ATTENTION: Nonspatial
Secondary Keyword = ATTENTION: Multisensory
... The difference in in central areas is intriguing and points to neural generators beyond the visual cortex. The vMMN, which we propose forms part of the f+ response, has been demonstrated to involve neural generators in the Inferior Frontal Gyrus (Hedge et al., 2013). The temporal lobe, as part of the visual ventral stream, has repeatedly be shown to be involved in semantic categorisation (e.g. ...
A fast and implicit measure of semantic categorisation using steady state visual evoked potentials
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