Visual mismatch negativity is unaffected by top-down prediction of the timing of deviant events

Visual mismatch negativity (VMMN) is an event-related brain potential component that is automatically elicited by infrequent (deviant) stimuli that are inserted among frequent (standard) stimuli (i.e., an oddball sequence). Although the elicitation of VMMN is basically determined in a stimulus-driven manner, it can be modulated by top-down control. In a previous study using a “patterned” oddball sequence, where deviant (D) stimuli were regularly inserted among standard (S) stimuli (i.e., repetitions of an SSSSD pattern), VMMN was largely reduced when participants noticed the SSSSD pattern and actively predicted both the identity and timing of the deviant stimuli compared to when they did not notice the SSSSD pattern and did not form such active prediction. The present study further investigated whether or not active prediction of only the timing of deviant stimuli is sufficient for the reduction of VMMN. With the patterned oddball sequence with one deviant (here, deviant stimuli were fixed throughout the block), VMMN was reduced when the participants noticed the SSSSD pattern and actively predicted both the identity and timing of deviant stimuli (i.e., replication of the previous finding). In contrast, with the patterned oddball sequence with two deviants (deviant stimuli were randomly varied between two possibilities), VMMN was not significantly reduced when the participants noticed the SSSSD pattern and actively predicted only the timing of deviant stimuli. These results suggest that active prediction of only the timing of deviant stimuli is not sufficient to reduce VMMN.