Deviance-repetition effects as a function of stimulus feature, feature value variation, and timing: a mismatch negativity study.

The human auditory pre-attentive change detection system, indicated by the mismatch negativity component (MMN) of the event-related brain potential is known to be sensitive for the successive presentation of tones deviating in frequency. The present study investigated deviance-repetition effects as a function of stimulus feature, feature value variation, and stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA). For succession of frequency and location deviants carrying the same feature value, MMN elicited by the second deviant was reduced significantly. The reduction of MMN amplitude was markedly smaller, if the second of two successive deviants carries a different feature value, as compared with same feature value deviants. The variation of SOA across the temporal window of integration did not influence the deviance-repetition effects. We suggest that the pre-attentive change-detection system evaluates the informational content of the succession of deviants enabling an effective scanning of the auditory environment for potentially relevant events.