A deviation in the acoustic environment activates
an automatic change-detection system based on a memory
mechanism that builds a neural trace representing the preceding
sounds. The present study revealed that the auditory-cortex
mechanisms underlying this sensory memory integrate acoustic
events over time, producing a perception of a unitary auditory
event. We recorded magnetic responses (MMNm) to occasional
stimulus omissions in trains of stimuli presented at a
constant stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) that was, in different
blocks, either shorter or longer in duration than the assumed
length of the temporal window of integration. A definite
MMNm was elicited by stimulus omission only with the three
shortest SOAs used: 100, 125, and 150 ms, but not with
175 ms. Thus, 160–170 ms was estimated as the length
of the temporal window used by the central auditory system
in integrating successive auditory input into auditory
event percepts.