The mismatch negativity of event-related potentials as a probe of transient auditory memory: a review.

The use of the mismatch negativity as a probe to study the memory upon which it depends is reviewed. Topics about the memory include its duration, its capacity, the kind of information that can be stored in the memory, how the information is stored, whether the memory is accessed in parallel or in series, whether it is hard-wired or can be modified by experience, and its relationship to sensory memory.