Previous studies have demonstrated that nonspatial repetition inhibition can occur across modalities. However, the underlying mechanism of such cross-modal nonspatial repetition inhibition is unknown. The present experiment adopted a cross-modal prime-neutral cue-target paradigm in which in consecutive trials the prime and the target were matched or mismatched, not only in identity but also in modality. Meanwhile, event-related potentials (ERPs) to visual and auditory targets were recorded. The present study aimed to answer two questions: which ERP components reflect nonspatial repetition inhibition across modalities, and is the ERP component modality specific or supramodal? The results showed that for visual targets, robust nonspatial repetition inhibition occurred similarly for both unimodal (visual-visual) and cross-modal (audio-visual) target pairings, as indexed by an N400 repetition-induced increment in the typical N400 window but null effects during the N2 epoch. For auditory targets, similar modulation of cross-modal nonspatial repetition inhibition on the auditory-evoked N400 repetition-induced increment was observed. These results suggest that the N400 repetition-induced increment occurs during the N400 epoch that underlies cross-modal nonspatial repetition inhibition and that this N400 component is a supramodal component.

先前的研究表明，非空间重复抑制可以在各种方式中发生。但是，这种跨模式非空间重复抑制的潜在机制尚不清楚。本实验采用了一种交叉模式的中立提示目标范式，在连续试验中，本源和目标在身份和情态上都匹配或不匹配。同时，记录了视觉和听觉目标的事件相关电位（ERP）。本研究旨在回答两个问题：哪些ERP组件反映了跨模式的非空间重复抑制，ERP组件的模式是特定的还是超模式的？结果表明，对于视觉目标，强大的非空间重复抑制在单峰（视觉-视觉）和跨峰（音频-视觉）目标配对中均类似发生，这是由N400重复在典型N400窗口中引起的增量指示的，但在N2时期无效。对于听觉目标，观察到对听觉诱发的N400重复诱导的增量的跨模式非空间重复抑制的类似调节。这些结果表明，N400重复诱导的增量发生在N400时期，该时期是跨模式非空间重复抑制的基础，并且该N400成分是超模式成分。在听觉诱发的N400重复诱导的增量上观察到类似的交叉模式非空间重复抑制的调节。这些结果表明，N400重复诱导的增量发生在N400时期，该时期是跨模式非空间重复抑制的基础，并且该N400成分是超模式成分。观察到对听觉诱发的N400重复诱导的增量的跨模式非空间重复抑制的类似调节。这些结果表明，N400重复诱导的增量发生在N400时期，该时期是跨模式非空间重复抑制的基础，并且该N400成分是超模式成分。