Equiprobable and Oddball Paradigms: Two Approaches for Documenting Auditory Discrimination

Abstract

The oddball paradigm is frequently used to study auditory discrimination. However, due to its lengthy recording sessions, an alternative design may be considered when time constraints are paramount. In the current study, auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) were obtained in 10 typical adults in response to two speech sound contrasts (/ba/-/ga/, /ba/-/pa/) presented using the oddball and equiprobable (equal trial counts for all conditions) paradigms. Sound discrimination was evident within the 100–300 msec post-stimulus window in both paradigms. Therefore, the equiprobable design can be a reasonable alternative to the oddball paradigm in situations when recording length threatens the quantity of available data.

Notes

¹Although MMN paradigms often utilize a nose or mastoid reference, the use of an average reference is acceptable (see Kujala et al., 2007) and is generally recommended for analyses of ERPs obtained with high-density electrode arrays (e.g., Dien, 1998).