Identifying neural correlates of auditory perceptual awareness and deviance using a no-report inattentional deafness paradigm
- 1University of Muenster
Abstract
The relationship between neural processes supporting perception, deviance processing, and post-perceptual task demands during auditory processing is not well understood. We used multitone masking and a no-report inattentional deafness paradigm to dissociate neural correlates of auditory perceptual awareness, deviance processing, and task demands. Evoked responses to physically identical target-tone pairs were recorded across three phases differing only in task instructions. In Phase A, human participants remained nave to (and thus unaware of) the target tones. In Phase B, participants were informed about (and thus aware of) the target tones. In Phase C, participants remained aware of the target tones and judged the duration of the silent gap between them, rendering them task-relevant. When participants were aware of them, target tones elicited an auditory awareness negativity and an increased positivity in the P3 window), with larger responses when target tones were additionally task-relevant. Furthermore, though largest in Phase C, deviant stimuli elicited a mismatch negativity across all task conditions, while a significant P3 to deviants was only observed in Phase C. Thus, early and late responses can be independently modulated by awareness, deviance, and task-relevance, indicating that they do not necessarily rely on shared neural mechanisms despite overlapping spatiotemporal profiles.
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BibTeX
@misc{ellinghorst2026identifying,
title = {{Identifying neural correlates of auditory perceptual awareness and deviance using a no-report inattentional deafness paradigm}},
author = {A. Ellinghorst and T. Dellert and Y. Zhu and T. Straube and A. R. Dykstra and I. Schlossmacher},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.05.755932},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.05.755932v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Identifying neural correlates of auditory perceptual awareness and deviance using a no-report inattentional deafness paradigm
AU - A. Ellinghorst
AU - T. Dellert
AU - Y. Zhu
AU - T. Straube
AU - A. R. Dykstra
AU - I. Schlossmacher
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.05.755932
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.05.755932v1
AB - The relationship between neural processes supporting perception, deviance processing, and post-perceptual task demands during auditory processing is not well understood. We used multitone masking and a no-report inattentional deafness paradigm to dissociate neural correlates of auditory perceptual awareness, deviance processing, and task demands. Evoked responses to physically identical target-tone pairs were recorded across three phases differing only in task instructions. In Phase A, human participants remained nave to (and thus unaware of) the target tones. In Phase B, participants were informed about (and thus aware of) the target tones. In Phase C, participants remained aware of the target tones and judged the duration of the silent gap between them, rendering them task-relevant. When participants were aware of them, target tones elicited an auditory awareness negativity and an increased positivity in the P3 window), with larger responses when target tones were additionally task-relevant. Furthermore, though largest in Phase C, deviant stimuli elicited a mismatch negativity across all task conditions, while a significant P3 to deviants was only observed in Phase C. Thus, early and late responses can be independently modulated by awareness, deviance, and task-relevance, indicating that they do not necessarily rely on shared neural mechanisms despite overlapping spatiotemporal profiles.
ER -