Simultaneous bilateral mismatch response to right- but not leftward sound lateralization.

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to compare mismatch responses between hemispheres to changes in sound-source direction. Sixteen adults listened passively to two types of complex non-language sounds presented in separate blocks with midline standards and right- and left-lateralized deviants. Mismatch dipole amplitudes were larger contra- than ipsilaterally to the deviants. Both hemispheres processed right deviants simultaneously, whereas to left deviants, the left dipole peaked 20 ms later than the right dipole. A second experiment using the same standards but midline spectral deviants showed no interhemispheric differences. Here mismatch latencies were about 60 ms longer than in the location mismatch experiment. This suggested both fast, contralaterally dominant location mismatch responses and facilitated detection of auditory spatial deviance in the right hemifield.