Hierarchical Neural Mechanisms of Auditory Relevance Processing: Convergent ERP and Source Dynamics Evidence for Enhanced Self-Referential Evaluation

Hierarchical Neural Mechanisms of Auditory Relevance Processing: Convergent ERP and Source Dynamics Evidence for Enhanced Self-Referential Evaluation | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 10 December 2025 V1 Latest version Share on Hierarchical Neural Mechanisms of Auditory Relevance Processing: Convergent ERP and Source Dynamics Evidence for Enhanced Self-Referential Evaluation Authors : Xiongping Cao 0009-0005-5640-0198 , Jianming Chen , Zheng Yan , and Fang Duan [email protected] Authors Info & Affiliations https://doi.org/10.22541/au.176535374.48395196/v1 166 views 84 downloads Contents Abstract Supplementary Material Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract Objective: This study aimed to compare three auditory oddball paradigms—Tone, Reversed, and Name—to reveal hierarchical neural mechanisms of auditory processing and to evaluate their effectiveness in brain–computer interface (BCI) classification. Methods: EEG data were recorded from thirty healthy participants during passive listening (Tone, Name) and silent counting (Reversed) tasks. After preprocessing with Independent Component Analysis (ICA)-based artifact removal and automatic epoch screening, time-, frequency-, and nonlinear EEG features were extracted. Event-related potentials (ERPs), source-space estimations, and machine and deep-learning classifiers were used to analyze neural responses and classification performance. Results: The Name paradigm elicited the most pronounced ERP components, with significantly enhanced MMN (~ 205 ms) and P300 (~ 371 ms) amplitudes compared to the Tone and Reversed paradigms. Source-space analysis revealed a graded cortical recruitment pattern: Tone primarily engaged auditory regions; Reversed activated fronto-cingulate control networks; and Name selectively recruited an extended salience–self network involving the superior temporal gyrus, insula, and posterior cingulate cortex. Consistently, the Name paradigm yielded the highest neural separability across single-subject and cross-subject evaluations. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that increasing self-related relevance in auditory stimuli induces stronger, more distributed, and more discriminable neural responses, effectively bridging perceptual, semantic, and self-referential processing. The observed hierarchical pattern provides crucial theoretical insight into auditory attention and offers a robust neurophysiological basis for optimizing paradigms used in objective cognitive assessment. Supplementary Material File (ms_word.docx) Download 2.01 MB Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 10 December 2025 Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License. Authors Affiliations Xiongping Cao 0009-0005-5640-0198 Huaqiao University College of Information Science and Engineering View all articles by this author Jianming Chen Huaqiao University College of Information Science and Engineering View all articles by this author Zheng Yan Huaqiao University College of Information Science and Engineering View all articles by this author Fang Duan [email protected] Huaqiao University College of Information Science and Engineering View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 166 views 84 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation Xiongping Cao, Jianming Chen, Zheng Yan, et al. Hierarchical Neural Mechanisms of Auditory Relevance Processing: Convergent ERP and Source Dynamics Evidence for Enhanced Self-Referential Evaluation. Authorea . 10 December 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.176535374.48395196/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu . Format Please select one from the list RIS (ProCite, Reference Manager) EndNote BibTex Medlars RefWorks Direct import Tips for downloading citations document.getElementById('citMgrHelpLink').addEventListener('click', function() { popupHelp(this.href); return false; }); $(".js__slcInclude").on("change", function(e){ if ($(this).val() == 'refworks') $('#direct').prop("checked", false); $('#direct').prop("disabled", ($(this).val() == 'refworks')); }); View Options View options PDF View PDF Figures Tables Media Share Share Share article link Copy Link Copied! Copying failed. 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