This study used EEG to measure the brain's response to deviations in phonemes and demi-syllables within an artificial language. While phoneme deviations did not elicit a traditional MMN response, demi-syllables did elicit an MMN at 100-200ms. A separate behavioral study found no significant difference in participants' ability to identify words that were segmented at the phoneme level versus the syllable level. The study addresses Hickok's view that phoneme-level speech processing is limited to motor control by highlighting the need for further research on how phonetic shifts affect demi-syllable processing.