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Brain mechanisms extracting invariant information from varying auditory inputs were studied using the mismatch-negativity (MMN) brain response. We wished to determine whether the preattentive sound-analysis mechanisms, reflected by MMN, are capable of extracting invariant relationships based on abstract conjunctions between two sound features. The standard stimuli varied over a large range in frequency and intensity dimensions following the rule that the higher the frequency, the louder the intensity. The occasional deviant stimuli violated this frequency-intensity relationship and elicited an MMN. The results demonstrate that preattentive processing of auditory stimuli extends to unexpectedly complex relationships between the stimulus features.

Neural representations for abstract features of auditory stimuli were studied by presenting reading subjects with stimulus blocks composed of pairs of two closely spaced tones. There were frequent ascending standard pairs (i.e., the second tone was higher in frequency than the first tone) and occasional descending deviant pairs. Both types of pairs varied randomly over a wide frequency range. In separate blocks, the tones forming a pair were presented either to the same ear or to opposite ears. The deviant pairs elicited the mismatch negativity (MMN) in all conditions, which indicates that the brain can automatically extract and represent an abstract invariant feature (rise or fall) of stimulation above the point of binaural convergence and detect violations against it. Poor behavioral performance in an active discrimination task suggested that conscious discrimination processes can only partially use the outcome of the preattentive discrimination processes reflected by the MMN.

The temporal constraints of auditory event synthesis were investigated using event-related potentials. Standard stimuli consisted of an initial constant-frequency segment followed by a frequency glide. Occasionally, stimuli deviating from this standard both in intensity and within the direction of the glide were presented in the otherwise repetitive sound sequence. Previous results suggested that such 'double' deviants elicit only a single mismatch negativity (MMN) if the two temporally separate deviant elements were integrated within a common unit. Two successive MMNs were elicited by double deviants when the initial constant-frequency segment of the sound was 250 ms long, but only one when this segment was 150 ms in duration. The results support the hypothesis that the auditory input is processed in approximately 200 ms long temporal integration windows.