Fig. 1: Paradigms for studies 1 and 2.

a Checkerboard oddball paradigm and b number oddball paradigm. In a, the top row corresponds to the Small Rare Condition, and the bottom row to the Large Rare Condition. Marking of the oddballs by a dashed black frame is for demonstration purposes in the current figure. The oddball occurred after every fifth stimulus. Each checkerboard was presented for 500 ms and participants had to count the occurrence of the rare stimuli and report this number at the end of an experimental block. As seen in b, participants were either presented with a Go or NoGo trial (black dashed lines, oddball) for the second study. During a Go trial, participants were asked to press a button if a number was presented that was not 3. During a NoGo trial, participants were presented with the number 3 (oddball stimulus) and needed to refrain from pressing the button. The stimuli were presented for 150 ms. The interstimulus interval was presented for 1.5–2.5 s²¹.