Neural prediction of higher-order auditory sequence statistics

During auditory perception, we are required to abstract information from complex temporal sequences such as those in music and speech. Here, we investigated how higher-order statistics modulate the neural responses to sound sequences, hypothesizing that these modulations are associated with higher levels of the peri-Sylvian auditory hierarchy. We devised second-order Markov sequences of pure tones with uniform first-order transition probabilities. Participants learned to discriminate these sequences from random ones. Magnetoencephalography was used to identify evoked fields in which second-order transition probabilities were encoded. We show that improbable tones evoked heightened neural responses after 200ms post-tone onset during exposure at the learning stage or around 150ms during the subsequent test stage, originating near the right temporoparietal junction. These signal changes …