Abstract: High-sensation seekers are prone to search for changing stimuli. Pre-attentive processes reveal the earliest cortical change detection in response to external stimulus changes. This study recorded the mismatch negativity (MMN) to intensity increments and decrements in a repetitive tone in high- and low-sensation seekers. It was found that the MMN amplitude for intensity-decrement deviants was larger in high- than low-sensation seekers. However, with regard to deviant-increment stimulation, the difference between the two groups
was not significant. Consequently, the sensitivity of high-sensitivity seekers to pre-attentively detect a decrease in sound intensity is higher than that of low-sensation seekers.
Keywords: sensation seeking, sound intensity, pre-attentive detection, mismatch negativity (MMN)

Download: Differences in Pre-Attentive processes between high- and low-sensation seekers.pdf