Visual mismatch negativity and representational momentum: Their possible involvement in the same automatic prediction

To maintain real-time interaction with a dynamically changing visual object, the brain is thought to automatically predict the next state of the object based on the pattern of its preceding changes. A behavioral phenomenon known as representational momentum (RM: forward displacement of the remembered final state of an object along its preceding change pattern) and an electrophysiological phenomenon known as visual mismatch negativity (VMMN: an event-related brain potential component that is elicited when an object suddenly deviates from its preceding change pattern) have each indicated the existence of such automatic predictive processes. However, there has been no direct investigation of whether or not these phenomena are involved in the same predictive processes. To address this issue, the present study examined the correlation between RM and VMMN by using a hybrid paradigm in which both phenomena can be measured for the rotation of a bar. The results showed that the magnitudes of RM and VMMN were positively correlated; participants who exhibited greater RM along the regular rotation of a bar tended to show greater VMMN in response to sudden reversal embedded in the regular rotation of a bar. This result provides empirical support for the hypothesis that RM and VMMN may be involved in the same automatic predictive processes. Due to the methodological limitations of a correlation analysis, this hypothesis has to be carefully tested in future studies that examine the relationship between RM and VMMN from multiple perspectives.