Integrated Preattentive Processing of Vowel and Pitch

This study examines the additivity of the Mismatch Negativity (MMN) as an index of the early interactions between vowels and pitch when sung. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants were presented with sung vowels. Sixteen percent of stimuli deviated in pitch only, in vowel only, or in both pitch and vowel. All three kinds of deviants elicited an MMN of similar amplitude. The MMNs to vowel and pitch deviants did not show significant additivity. This suggests that vowel and pitch are processed by shared neural substrates at the preattentive level.