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Mismatch Negativity to Tonal Contours Suggests Preattentive Perception of Prosodic Content

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Abstract

Modulation of speech conveys information that is decoded within audio-sensory structures. For example, the termination of an utterance with a rise in pitch distinguishes statements and questions. This study evaluated the sensitivity of early auditory structures to such linguistic prosodic distinctions using mismatch negativity (MMN). MMN is a preattentive auditory event-related potential (ERP) sensitive to stimulus deviance. High-density ERP to pitch contour stimuli were collected in a passive listening oddball paradigm from 11 healthy subjects. Voltage analysis revealed significant MMN responses to declarative and interrogative oddball stimuli. Further, MMN was significantly larger to interrogative, than declarative, deviants, indicating non-symmetric brain processing. These MMNs demonstrate that pitch contour abstractions reflecting interrogative/ declarative distinctions can be represented in preattentive auditory sensory memory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuropsychiatry Program-Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, 10th floor Gates Bldg, 3400 Spruce St., Philadelphia, PA, USA

    David I. Leitman

  2. Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    David I. Leitman

  3. Program in Cognitive Neuroscience, Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, 10962, USA

    Pejman Sehatpour, Marina Shpaner, John J. Foxe & Daniel C. Javitt

  4. The City College of the City University of New York, 138th Street & Convent Avenue, New York, NY, 10031, USA

    Marina Shpaner, John J. Foxe & Daniel C. Javitt

  5. Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, NYU School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY, USA

    Daniel C. Javitt

Authors
  1. David I. Leitman
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  2. Pejman Sehatpour
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  3. Marina Shpaner
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  4. John J. Foxe
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  5. Daniel C. Javitt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David I. Leitman.

Additional information

This work was supported in part by NIMH grants NRSA F1-MH067339 (DIL), K02 MH01439 and R01 MH49334 (DCJ), R37 MH49334 and NS30029 (JJF), and a Translational Research Scientist Award from the Burroughs Welcome Fund (DCJ).

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Leitman, D.I., Sehatpour, P., Shpaner, M. et al. Mismatch Negativity to Tonal Contours Suggests Preattentive Perception of Prosodic Content. Brain Imaging and Behavior 3, 284–291 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-009-9070-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-009-9070-7

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