The auditory system is highly sensitive to recurring patterns in the acoustic input – even in otherwise unstructured material, such as white noise or random tonal sequences. Electroencephalography (EEG) research revealed a characteristic negative potential to periodically recurring auditory patterns ‐ a response, which has been interpreted as memory trace‐related and specific, rather than as a sign of periodicity‐driven entrainment. Here, we aim to disentangle these two possible contributions by investigating the influence of a periodic sound sequence's inherent temporal regularity on event‐related potentials. Participants were presented continuous sequences of short tones of random pitch, with some sequences containing a recurring pattern, and asked to indicate whether they heard a repetition. Patterns were either spaced equally across the random sequence (isochronous condition) or with a temporal jitter (jittered condition), which enabled us to differentiate between event‐related potentials (and thus processing operations associated with a memory trace for a repeated pattern) and the periodic nature of the repetitions. A negative recurrence‐related component could be observed independently of temporal regularity, was pattern‐specific, and modulated by across trial repetition of the pattern. Critically, isochronous pattern repetition induced an additional early periodicity‐related positive component, which started to build up already before the pattern onset and which was elicited undampedly even when the repeated pattern was occasionally not presented. This positive component likely reflects a sensory driven entrainment process that could be the foundation of a behavioural benefit in detecting temporally regular repetitions.

中文翻译：

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随机音调序列中时间规律性和重复模式的神经信号

听觉系统对声音输入中的重复模式非常敏感，即使在其他非结构化的材料（例如白噪声或随机音调序列）中也是如此。脑电图（EEG）研究表明，周期性重复的听觉模式具有特征性的负电位-一种反应，已被解释为与记忆痕迹相关且特定，而不是周期性驱动的夹带的迹象。在这里，我们旨在通过研究周期性声音序列固有的时间规律性对事件相关电位的影响，来弄清这两种可能的贡献。向与会人员介绍了连续的随机音调的短音序列，其中一些音调包含重复出现的模式，并要求他们指出是否听到了重复音。模式在随机序列（等时条件）上或在时间抖动（抖动条件）上等距分布，这使我们能够区分与事件相关的电势（并因此对与重复模式相关的内存跟踪相关的处理操作）和重复的周期性。可以独立于时间规律性观察到与阴性相关的复发成分，它是特定于模式的，并通过整个模式的反复试验进行调制。至关重要的是，等时模式重复诱发了一个额外的早期周期性相关的正分量，该正分量在模式发作之前就已经开始积累，并且即使在偶尔不出现重复模式的情况下也不会引起衰减。