Mismatch Negativity Research Articles

An EEG-Based Neuroplastic Approach to Predictive Coding in People With Schizophrenia or Traumatic Brain Injury.

Despite different etiologies, people with schizophrenia (SCZ) or with traumatic brain injury (TBI) both show aberrant neuroplasticity. One neuroplastic mechanism that may be affected is prediction error coding. We used a roving mismatch negativity (rMMN) paradigm which uses different lengths of standard tone trains and is optimized to assess predictive coding. Twenty-five SCZ, 22 TBI (mild to moderate), and 25 healthy controls were assessed. We used a frequency-deviant rMMN in which the number of standards preceding the deviant was either 2, 6, or 36. We evaluated repetition positivity to the standard tone immediately preceding a deviant tone (repetition positivity [RP], to assess formation of the memory trace), deviant negativity to the deviant stimulus (deviant negativity [DN], which reflects signaling of a prediction error), and the difference wave between the 2 (the MMN). We found that SCZ showed reduced DN and MMN compared with healthy controls and with people with mild to moderate TBI. We did not detect impairments in any index (RP, DN, or MMN) in people with TBI compared to controls. Our findings suggest that prediction error coding assessed with rMMN is aberrant in SCZ but intact in TBI, though there is a suggestion that severity of head injury results in poorer prediction error coding.

Mismatch Negativity in Schizophrenia, Unaffected First-degree Relatives, and Healthy Controls

BackgroundMismatch negativity (MMN) amplitude is attenuated in schizophrenia patients (SZ). However, variability in illness course among SZ samples and types of deviant stimuli used in MMN paradigms have contributed to inconsistent findings across studies. Though MMN is suggested to be impaired in schizotypy, the potential link between the two is yet to be systematically examined in unaffected first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients (FDR). MethodsThe SZ sample had twenty-two drug-naïve or drug-free patients (dSZ) and thirty chronic/medicated patients (cSZ). dSZ and cSZ patients were compared with thirty-six unaffected FDR and thirty-two healthy controls (HC) using a two-tone passive auditory oddball MMN paradigm in an event-related potential experiment with two conditions (presented as separate blocks)–duration-deviant (duration-MMN) and frequency-deviant (frequency-MMN). Schizotypy scores and MMN indices were examined for correlation in FDR. ResultsDuration-MMN amplitude was significantly attenuated in both dSZ and cSZ compared to other groups. dSZ and cSZ did not differ on MMN indices. Psychopathology scores and features of illness (illness duration, medication dosage, etc.) did not correlate with MMN indices. In FDR, Schizotypal trait measures did not correlate with MMN indices. ConclusionsDuration-MMN emerged as a more robust indicator of prediction error signalling deficit in SZ. Frequency-MMN amplitude did not significantly differ among the groups, and MMN indices did not correlate with state and trait measures of schizophrenia-related psychopathology. These findings reiterates that auditory sensory processing captured by MMN is likely reflective of dynamic cognitive functions at the point of testing, and is unlikely to be an expression of enduring symptomatology.

Assessing the effectiveness of spatial PCA on SVM-based decoding of EEG data

Principal component analysis (PCA) has been widely employed for dimensionality reduction prior to multivariate pattern classification (decoding) in EEG research. The goal of the present study was to provide an evaluation of the effectiveness of PCA on decoding accuracy (using support vector machines) across a broad range of experimental paradigms. We evaluated several different PCA variations, including group-based and subject-based component decomposition and the application of Varimax rotation or no rotation. We also varied the numbers of PCs that were retained for the decoding analysis. We evaluated the resulting decoding accuracy for seven common event-related potential components (N170, mismatch negativity, N2pc, P3b, N400, lateralized readiness potential, and error-related negativity). We also examined more challenging decoding tasks, including decoding of face identity, facial expression, stimulus location, and stimulus orientation. The datasets also varied in the number and density of electrode sites. Our findings indicated that none of the PCA approaches consistently improved decoding performance related to no PCA, and the application of PCA frequently reduced decoding performance. Researchers should therefore be cautious about using PCA prior to decoding EEG data from similar experimental paradigms, populations, and recording setups.

Auditory change detection and visual selective attention: association between MMN and N2pc.

While the auditory and visual systems each provide distinct information to our brain, they also work together to process and prioritize input to address ever-changing conditions. Previous studies highlighted the trade-off between auditory change detection and visual selective attention; however, the relationship between them is still unclear. Here, we recorded electroencephalography signals from 106 healthy adults in three experiments. Our findings revealed a positive correlation at the population level between the amplitudes of event-related potential indices associated with auditory change detection (mismatch negativity) and visual selective attention (posterior contralateral N2) when elicited in separate tasks. This correlation persisted even when participants performed a visual task while disregarding simultaneous auditory stimuli. Interestingly, as visual attention demand increased, participants whose posterior contralateral N2 amplitude increased the most exhibited the largest reduction in mismatch negativity, suggesting a within-subject trade-off between the two processes. Taken together, our results suggest an intimate relationship and potential shared mechanism between auditory change detection and visual selective attention. We liken this to a total capacity limit that varies between individuals, which could drive correlated individual differences in auditory change detection and visual selective attention, and also within-subject competition between the two, with task-based modulation of visual attention causing within-participant decrease in auditory change detection sensitivity.

Dissecting Mismatch Negativity: Early and Late Subcomponents for Detecting Deviants in Local and Global Sequence Regularities.

Mismatch negativity (MMN) is commonly recognized as a neural signal of prediction error evoked by deviants from the expected patterns of sensory input. Studies show that MMN diminishes when sequence patterns become more predictable over a longer timescale. This implies that MMN is composed of multiple subcomponents, each responding to different levels of temporal regularities. To probe the hypothesized subcomponents in MMN, we record human electroencephalography during an auditory local-global oddball paradigm where the tone-to-tone transition probability (local regularity) and the overall sequence probability (global regularity) are manipulated to control temporal predictabilities at two hierarchical levels. We find that the size of MMN is correlated with both probabilities and the spatiotemporal structure of MMN can be decomposed into two distinct subcomponents. Both subcomponents appear as negative waveforms, with one peaking early in the central-frontal area and the other late in a more frontal area. With a quantitative predictive coding model, we map the early and late subcomponents to the prediction errors that are tied to local and global regularities, respectively. Our study highlights the hierarchical complexity of MMN and offers an experimental and analytical platform for developing a multitiered neural marker applicable in clinical settings.

Unsupervised Characterization of Prediction Error Markers in Unisensory and Multisensory Streams Reveal the Spatiotemporal Hierarchy of Cortical Information Processing.

Elicited upon violation of regularity in stimulus presentation, mismatch negativity (MMN) reflects the brain's ability to perform automatic comparisons between consecutive stimuli and provides an electrophysiological index of sensory error detection whereas P300 is associated with cognitive processes such as updating of the working memory. To date, there has been extensive research on the roles of MMN and P300 individually, because of their potential to be used as clinical markers of consciousness and attention, respectively. Here, we intend to explore with an unsupervised and rigorous source estimation approach, the underlying cortical generators of MMN and P300, in the context of prediction error propagation along the hierarchies of brain information processing in healthy human participants. The existing methods of characterizing the two ERPs involve only approximate estimations of their amplitudes and latencies based on specific sensors of interest. Our objective is twofold: first, we introduce a novel data-driven unsupervised approach to compute latencies and amplitude of ERP components accurately on an individual-subject basis and reconfirm earlier findings. Second, we demonstrate that in multisensory environments, MMN generators seem to reflect a significant overlap of "modality-specific" and "modality-independent" information processing while P300 generators mark a shift toward completely "modality-independent" processing. Advancing earlier understanding that multisensory contexts speed up early sensory processing, our study reveals that temporal facilitation extends to even the later components of prediction error processing, using EEG experiments. Such knowledge can be of value to clinical research for characterizing the key developmental stages of lifespan aging, schizophrenia, and depression.

Effects of Metrical Context on the P1 Component.

The temporal structure of sound, characterized by regular patterns, plays a crucial role in optimizing the processing of auditory information. The meter, representing a well-organized sequence of evenly spaced beats in music, exhibits a hierarchical arrangement, with stronger beats occupying higher metrical positions. Moreover, the meter has been shown to influence behavioral and neural processing, particularly the N1, P2, and mismatch negativity components. However, the role of the P1 component in the context of metrical hierarchy remains unexplored. This study aimed to investigate the effects of metrical hierarchy on the P1 component and compare the responses between musicians and non-musicians. Thirty participants (15 musicians and 15 non-musicians) were enrolled in the study. Auditory stimuli consisted of a synthesized speech syllable presented together with a repeating series of four tones, establishing a quadruple meter. Electrophysiological recordings were performed to measure the P1 component. The results revealed that metrical position had a significant effect on P1 amplitude, with the strongest beat showing the lowest amplitude. This contrasts with previous findings, in which enhanced P1 responses were typically observed at on-the-beat positions. The reduced P1 response on the strong beat can be interpreted within the framework of predictive coding and temporal prediction, where a higher predictability of pitch changes at the strong beat leads to a reduction in the P1 response. Furthermore, higher P1 amplitudes were observed in musicians compared to non-musicians, suggesting that musicians have enhanced sensory processing. This study demonstrates the effects of metrical hierarchy on the P1 component, thereby enriching our understanding of auditory processing. The results suggest that predictive coding and temporal prediction play important roles in shaping sensory processing. Further, they suggest that musical training may enhance P1 responses.

Neural correlates of lexical-tone and vowel-quality processing in 6- and 9-month-old German-learning infants and adults.

We examined the neurophysiological underpinnings of lexical-tone and vowel-quality perception in learners of a non-tonal language. We tested 25 6- and 25 9-month-old German-learning infants, as well as 24 German adults and expected developmental differences for the two linguistic properties, as they are both carried by vowels, but have a different status in German. In adults, both lexical-tone and vowel-quality contrasts elicited mismatch negativities, with a stronger response to the vowel-quality contrast. Six-month-olds showed positive mismatch responses for lexical-tone and vowel-quality contrasts, with an emerging negative mismatch response for vowel-quality only. The negative mismatch responses became more pronounced for the vowel-quality contrast at 9 months, while the lexical-tone contrast elicited mainly positive mismatch responses. Our data reveal differential developmental changes in the processing of vowel properties that differ in their lexical relevance in the ambient language.

Two sides of the same coin? How are neural mechanisms of cognitive control, attentional difficulties and creativity related?

Creativity has been associated with increased distractibility, but at the same time - and seemingly paradoxically- also with increased focused attention. Therefore, this study focused on the attentional processes involved in creativity and attentional difficulties. Healthy primary school children (N = 62) between 9 and 13 years old performed a selective attention paradigm while electrophysiological measures were recorded that measured the neural mechanisms of cognitive control (P300), conflict monitoring (N200), and subconscious attentional shifts (Mismatch Negativity). Attentional difficulties were measured with a parental questionnaire and creativity was measured with a divergent mathematical creativity task and a creative drawing task. We found that more creativity was related to decreased neural mechanisms of cognitive control and conflict monitoring (i.e. less negative N200 and smaller P300 amplitudes), however without affecting task performance. In addition, attentional difficulties were related to less negative N200 amplitudes on the attended and non-attended standard trials of the selective attention paradigm, as well as reduced task performance. Tentatively, the current findings suggest that original responses are associated with decreased cognitive control, possibly by promoting remote associations. Furthermore, our data shows that attentional difficulties are associated with a lack of selective attention and impaired information processing. Hence, although less cognitive control is often referred to in a negative way, it might facilitate certain aspects of creative thinking without affecting task performance.

Visual omitted stimulus potentials are not retinotopic

Omitted stimulus potentials (OSPs) are elicited in response to the omission of expected stimuli and are thought to reflect prediction errors. If prediction errors are signaled in the sensory cortex, OSPs are expected to be generated in the sensory cortex. The present study investigated the involvement of the early visual cortex in the generation of OSPs by testing whether omitted visual stimuli elicit brain responses in a spatially specific manner. Checkerboard pattern stimuli were presented alternately in the upper and lower visual fields, and the stimuli were omitted in 10 % of the trials. Event-related potentials were recorded from 33 participants. While a retinotopic C1 component was evoked by real visual stimuli, omitted stimuli did not produce any response reflecting retinotopy but did elicit a visual mismatch negativity, which was larger for omitted stimuli expected in the lower visual field than for those in the upper visual field. These results suggest that omitted visual stimuli are processed in a different pathway than actual stimuli.

Inducing Shifts in Attentional and Preattentive Visual Processing Through Brief Training on Novel Grammatical Morphemes: An Event‐Related Potential Study

AbstractCan brief training on novel grammatical morphemes influence visual processing of nonlinguistic stimuli? If so, how deep is this effect? Here, an experimental group learned two novel morphemes highlighting the familiar concept of transitivity in sentences; a control group was exposed to the same input but with the novel morphemes used interchangeably. Subsequently, both groups performed two visual oddball tasks with nonlinguistic motion events. In the first (attentional) oddball task, relative to the control group, the experimental group showed decreased attention (P300) to infrequent changes in the morpheme‐irrelevant dimension (shape) but not the morpheme‐relevant dimension (motion transitivity); in the second (preattentive) oddball task, they showed enhanced preattentive responses (N1/visual mismatch negativity) to infrequent changes in motion transitivity but not shape. Our findings show that increasing attention to preexisting concepts in sentences through brief training on novel grammatical morphemes can influence both attentional and preattentive visual processing.

Effect of music integrated phonological awareness program on preschool cochlear implant users

ObjectivesChildren with cochlear implants exhibit lower phonological awareness and sound discrimination skills compared to their normal-hearing peers. However, music training has been shown to have a positive effect on speech discrimination and awareness skills. MethodsOur study included 23 cochlear implant users and 23 normal hearing participants aged 5–6 years with language skills. The aim was to observe the effect of a music-integrated phonological awareness program on cochlear implant users and to compare the phonological awareness skills of children with cochlear implants before and after online training with their normal hearing peers. ResultsResults showed that the trained study group scored higher on the Scale of Early Childhood Phonological Awareness (PASECP) after training than the control group (p < 0.05). In addition, SMRT scores increased between before and after training in the study group, and Mismatch Negativity (MMN) amplitudes increased and latencies decreased as a result of training (p < 0.05). ConclusionsThe study suggests that phonological awareness training integrated with music can effectively improve the phonological awareness skills of children with cochlear implants and has the potential to enable them to achieve phonological awareness levels similar to or even better than their normal hearing peers.

Automated ABR and MMN extraction using a customized headband for hearing screening

ObjectiveStimuli-elicited EEG responses, known as Event-Related Potentials (ERPs), reflect the health status of underlying electrophysiological processes and are frequently used for scanning sensory pathways. Current ERP extraction systems are expensive, complex, and bulky. This study aims to overcome these limitations by developing and validating a bimodal auditory ERP extractor headband. MethodsAn affordable, portable bimodal auditory ERP extractor was developed and validated for ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response) and MMN (Mismatch Negativity) response interpretation. Auditory stimuli were created using Presentation software. Adaptive filtering-based extraction was performed in EEGLAB (MATLAB) to derive the neural inferences. Extracted responses from n = 5 young adults were validated against CE-certified acquisition systems used in clinical practice. ResultsValidation results showed the grand average responses of ABR and MMN for n = 5 subjects matched. Furthermore, with and without stimuli ERP analysis showed significant differences for identified features (p = 0.00794 for ABR wave-V amplitudes, p = 1.22 * 10−5, and p = 2.62 * 10−5 for MMN peak latencies and area under the curves), ensuring that the response was due to the presented auditory stimuli. ConclusionThe results confirm the competency of the developed system to obtain MMN and ABR from young adults. A clear contrast between latency-amplitude scatter plots further ensures the competency of a developed system to acquire ABR and MMN. SignificanceThe novelty of the study is an easy-to-operate, affordable ERP extractor with adaptive filtering, wearable design, and configurable stimuli. This system can be a potential solution for large-scale hearing screening, providing detailed neural insights, including averaged responses and inter-trial variabilities.

Effect of Abstract Phonemic Complexity on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) Amplitude.

Mismatch negativity (MMN) reflects a pre-perceptual neurophysiological response that is generated subconsciously due to the interruption of a memory trace of ongoing sensory events in the environment. It has been widely used by researchers to understand complex perceptual mechanisms. Furthermore, it has been recommended as an objective tool to investigate disorders related to auditory cognition in hearing aid and cochlear implant users. Many researchers suggest that utilizing a larger acoustic difference between standard and deviant stimuli within the oddball paradigm will lead to a more robust MMN response. The purpose of the present study is to examine if increasing the abstract phonemic contrast between standard and deviant stimuli in the oddball paradigm leads to a more robust MMN response. Fourteen young female adults participated in the present study. To ensure that the MMN response was elicited by phonemic and not acoustic differences in the stimuli, a one-to-many ratio was created for the abstract phonemic features while controlling the acoustic features when designing the oddball paradigm as described by Phillips et al. (2000). MMN amplitude was measured at the Cz and Fz electrodes in 2 conditions, with 2 trials in each condition. In condition 1, the standards and deviants differed by one distinctive feature: voicing in trial 1 (/tӕ/ was standard and /dӕ/ was deviant), and place of articulation in trial 2 (/bӕ/ was standard and /dӕ/ was deviant). In condition 2, the standards and deviants differed across two distinctive features: voicing and place of articulation. In trial 1, /pӕ/ was standard and /dӕ/ was deviant; in trial 2, /dӕ/ was standard and /pӕ/ was deviant. MMN amplitudes elicited by two distinctive features were significantly larger than MMN amplitudes elicited by one distinctive feature (p<0.001). Trials 1 and 2 in each condition showed no statistical difference, and they were repeatable and highly correlated. Recordings from the Cz and Fz electrodes showed no statistical difference and were highly correlated and similar in morphology. It is known in the literature that increasing acoustic complexity elicits a more robust MMN. The present study showed that this assumption can be extended to abstract phonemic complexity. Increasing the phonemic complexity by utilizing more distinctive features in the oddball paradigm increased the amplitude and robustness of the MMN.

Tracking the habituation of the event-related EEG potential in automatic change detection using an auditory two-tone oddball paradigm.

The mismatch negativity and the P3a of the event-related EEG potential reflect the electrocortical response to a deviant stimulus in a series of stimuli. Although both components have been investigated in various paradigms, these paradigms usually incorporate many repetitions of the same deviant, thus leaving open whether both components vary as a function of the deviant's position in a series of deviant stimuli-i.e. whether they are subject to qualitative/quantitative habituation from one instantiation of a deviant to the next. This is so because the detection of mismatch negativity/P3a in the event-related EEG potential requires an averaging over dozens or hundreds of stimuli, i.e. over many instantiations of the deviant per participant. The present study addresses this research gap. We used a two-tone oddball paradigm implementing only a small number of (deviant) stimuli per participant, but applying it to a large number of participants (n> 230). Our data show that the mismatch negativity amplitude exhibits no decrease as a function of the deviant's position in a series of (standard and) deviant stimuli. Importantly, only after the very first deviant stimulus, a distinct P3a could be detected, indicative of an orienting reaction and an attention shift, and thus documenting a dissociation of mismatch negativity and P3a.

Computational Synaptic Modeling of Pitch and Duration Mismatch Negativity in First-Episode Psychosis Reveals Selective Dysfunction of the N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor.

Mismatch negativity (MMN) to pitch (pMMN) and to duration (dMMN) deviant stimuli is significantly more attenuated in long-term psychotic illness compared to first-episode psychosis (FEP). It was recently shown that source-modeling of magnetically recorded MMN increases the detection of left auditory cortex MMN deficits in FEP, and that computational circuit modeling of electrically recorded MMN also reveals left-hemisphere auditory cortex abnormalities. Computational modeling using dynamic causal modeling (DCM) can also be used to infer synaptic activity from EEG-based scalp recordings. We measured pMMN and dMMN with EEG from 26 FEP and 26 matched healthy controls (HCs) and used a DCM conductance-based neural mass model including α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid, N-methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA), and Gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors to identify any changes in effective connectivity and receptor rate constants in FEP. We modeled MMN sources in bilateral A1, superior temporal gyrus, and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). No model parameters distinguished groups for pMMN. For dMMN, reduced NMDA receptor activity in right IFG in FEP was detected. This finding is in line with literature of prefrontal NMDA receptor hypofunction in chronic schizophrenia and suggests impaired NMDA-induced synaptic plasticity may be present at psychosis onset where scalp dMMN is only moderately reduced. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of impaired NMDA receptor activity in FEP found through computational modeling of dMMN and shows the potential of DCM to non-invasively reveal synaptic-level abnormalities that underly subtle functional auditory processing deficits in early psychosis.

A Comprehensive Review and Practical Guide of the Applications of Evoked Potentials in Neuroprognostication After Cardiac Arrest.

Cardiorespiratory arrest is a very common cause of morbidity and mortality nowadays, and many therapeutic strategies, such as induced coma or targeted temperature management, are used to reduce patient sequelae. However, these procedures can alter a patient's neurological status, making it difficult to obtain useful clinical information for the reliable estimation of neurological prognosis. Therefore, complementary investigations are conducted in the early stages after a cardiac arrest to clarify functional prognosis in comatose cardiac arrest survivors in the first few hours or days. Current practice relies on a multimodal approach, which shows its greatest potential in predicting poor functional prognosis, whereas the data and tools to identify patients with good functional prognosis remain relatively limited in comparison. Therefore, there is considerable interest in investigating alternative biological parameters and advanced imaging technique studies. Among these, somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) remain one of the simplest and most reliable tools. In this article, we discuss the technical principles, advantages, limitations, and prognostic implications of SSEPs in detail. We will also review other types of evoked potentials that can provide useful information but are less commonly used in clinical practice (e.g., visual evoked potentials; short-, medium-, and long-latency auditory evoked potentials; and event-related evoked potentials, such as mismatch negativity or P300).

Auditory mismatch negativity in pre-manifest and manifest Huntington’s disease

AimThe aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of the electrophysiological brain response elicited in a passive acoustic oddball paradigm, i.e. mismatch negativity (MMN), in patients with Huntington’s disease (HD) in the premanifest (pHD) and manifest (mHD) phases. In this regard, we correlated the results of event-related potentials (ERP) with disease characteristics. MethodsThis was an observational cross-sectional MMN study. In addition to the MMN recording of the passive oddball task, all subjects with first-degree inheritance for HD underwent genetic testing for mutant HTT, the Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale, the Total Functional Capacity Scale, the Problem Behaviors Assessment short form, and the Mini-Mental State Examination. ResultsWe found that global field power (GFP) was reduced in the MMN time window in mHD patients compared to pHD and normal controls (NC). In the pHD group, MMN amplitude was only slightly and not significantly increased compared to mHD, while pHD patients showed increased theta coherence between trials compared to mHD. In the entire sample of HD gene carriers, the main MMN traits were not correlated with motor performance, cognitive impairment and functional disability. ConclusionThese results suggest an initial and subtle deterioration of pre-attentive mechanisms in the presymptomatic phase of HD, with an increasing phase shift in the MMN time frame. This result could indicate initial functional changes with a possible compensatory effect. SignificanceAn initial and slight decrease in MMN associated with increased phase coherence in the corresponding EEG frequencies could indicate an early functional involvement of pre-attentive resources that could precede the clinical expression of HD.

Using multivariate pattern analysis to increase effect sizes for event-related potential analyses.

Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) approaches can be applied to the topographic distribution of event-related potential (ERP) signals to "decode" subtly different stimulus classes, such as different faces or different orientations. These approaches are extremely sensitive, and it seems possible that they could also be used to increase effect sizes and statistical power in traditional paradigms that ask whether an ERP component differs in amplitude across conditions. To assess this possibility, we leveraged the open-source ERP CORE data set and compared the effect sizes resulting from conventional univariate analyses of mean amplitude with two MVPA approaches (support vector machine decoding and the cross-validated Mahalanobis distance, both of which are easy to compute using open-source software). We assessed these approaches across seven widely studied ERP components (N170, N400, N2pc, P3b, lateral readiness potential, error related negativity, and mismatch negativity). Across all components, we found that multivariate approaches yielded effect sizes that were as large or larger than the effect sizes produced by univariate approaches. These results indicate that researchers could obtain larger effect sizes, and therefore greater statistical power, by using multivariate analysis of topographic voltage patterns instead of traditional univariate analyses in many ERP studies.

Long-term Functional Connectivity Alterations in the Mismatch Negativity, P300 and N400 Language Potentials in Adults with a Childhood Acquired Brain Injury

ABSTRACT Objective To investigate whether alterations in the functional connectivity of networks underlying phoneme perception and semantic-categorical processing persist in adulthood following childhood acquired brain injury (cABI). Methods EEG was recorded in seven adults with a cABI and seven matched controls during the administration of an inattentive and attentive phoneme-level oddball task and a categorical priming task. Functional connections underlying the mismatch negativity (MMN), P300 and N400 were compared between participant groups in five frequency bands by calculating the weighted phase lag index between 32 × 32 electrode pairs. Network modularity and path length were compared between the cABI and control group. Results We observed a positive network for MMN deviant processing in the low gamma band and N400 related processing in the alpha band, but a negative network for P300 standard processing in the theta band in cABI compared to control adults. No differences in graph measures of functional networks were observed between participant groups. Conclusions Alterations in the functional connectivity of speech perception and semantic-categorical processing networks persist in adulthood following cABI. Nevertheless, normal-like network properties in terms of local segregation and global integration are observed.