The ‘F-complex’ and MMN tap different aspects of deviance

Objective To compare the ‘F(fusion)-complex’ with the Mismatch negativity (MMN), both components associated with automatic detection of changes in the acoustic stimulus flow. Methods Ten right-handed adult native Hebrew speakers discriminated vowel–consonant–vowel (V–C–V) sequences /ada/ (deviant) and /aga/ (standard) in an active auditory ‘Oddball’ task, and the brain potentials associated with performance of the task were recorded from 21 electrodes. Stimuli were generated by fusing the acoustic elements of the V–C–V sequences as follows: base was always presented in front of the subject, and formant transitions were presented to the front, left or right in a virtual reality room. An illusion of a lateralized echo (duplex sensation) accompanied base fusion with the lateralized formant locations. Source current density estimates were derived for the net response to the fusion of the speech elements (F-complex) and for the MMN, using low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). Statistical non-parametric mapping was used to estimate the current density differences between the brain sources of the F-complex and the MMN. Results Occipito-parietal regions and prefrontal regions were associated with the F-complex in all formant locations, whereas the vicinity of the supratemporal plane was bilaterally associated with the MMN, but only in case of front-fusion (no duplex effect). Conclusions MMN is sensitive to the novelty of the auditory object in relation to other stimuli in a sequence, whereas the F-complex is sensitive to the acoustic features of the auditory object and reflects a process of matching them with target categories. Significance The F-complex and MMN reflect different aspects of auditory processing in a stimulus-rich and changing environment: content analysis of the stimulus and novelty detection, respectively