Mismatch Negativity Parameters Research Articles

Mismatch negativity as an early biomarker of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia

BackgroundDue to its disturbance in schizophrenic patients, mismatch negativity (MMN) generation is believed to be a potential biomarker for recognizing primary impairments in auditory sensory processing during the course of the disease. However, great controversy exists regarding the type and onset of MMN-related impairments, with the deficits to frequency deviants is more debatable. This cross-sectional, case–control study was conducted to assess the cognitive functions among 33 eligible Egyptian schizophrenics (15 early and 18 chronic), and 30 matched healthy controls by assessing their psychometric tests and correlating them to the coexisting frequency deviant MMN responses (using both tone and speech stimuli).ResultsDeficits in frequency MMN and neuropsychological tests were evident among early and chronic schizophrenics compared to their matched control counterparts, and also between early versus chronic schizophrenia in favor of the later. MMN deficits to speech stimuli were more elicited than tone stimuli among schizophrenics. Moreover, significant correlations were identified between MMN parameters and the results of psychiatric cognitive scales.ConclusionsWe demonstrated that frequency-deviant MMN deficits are evident feature among the enrolled Egyptian schizophrenics. The cognitive functions as indexed by MMN seem affected early, with the striking decrease of MMN amplitude and delay of latency point towards the progression of the illness. The normal lateralization of MMN was absent in chronic schizophrenia. These findings could be helpful in using the MMN as an additional objective tool for confirming cognitive impairments among schizophrenics and to differentiate between early- and chronic-schizophrenic patients for medico-legal purposes and clinical implication for medications.

Early Auditory Processing Predicts Efficient Working Memory Functioning in Schizophrenia.

Early auditory processing (EAP) deficits have been consistently documented in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (SZ). However, a relationship between EAP and executive attention has not been confirmed in SZ versus healthy controls (HC). The current study aimed to demonstrate that unlike HC, in SZ patients, auditory change-detection event-related potentials (ERPs) are significantly associated with executive working memory (WM) functioning. Additionally, correlational analyses investigated the relationships between patients’ auditory ERPs, WM performance, and schizophrenia symptom severity scores. We examined verbal WM accuracy associated with “executive-control” prefrontal cortex mechanisms and EAP ERPs under midline prefrontal electrodes in 12 SZ patients versus 12 demographically matched HC. Mismatch negativity (MMN) amplitudes and latencies in SZ patients were not significantly different from HC, however, their verbal WM performance was significantly impaired versus HC. Importantly, prolonged MMN latencies in the SZ group were correlated with better WM accuracy. In the HC group, WM accuracy was unrelated to MMN latencies. Patients’ MMN parameters were unrelated to schizophrenia symptom-domain severity. However, patients’ WM RTs and accuracy were significantly related to illness severity and negative symptom severity, respectively. Therefore, inefficient sensory excitation related to EAP timing may underlie poor executive verbal WM functioning and might indirectly exacerbate the severity of negative symptoms in SZ. Treatments targeting prefrontal cortex dysfunction in schizophrenia are discussed.

The Application of ASSRs, P50, and MMN in the Exploration of Cognitive Dysfunction Involving Inputs and Processing in Insomnia Patients.

Objective cognitive dysfunction has been commonly found in patients with insomnia, such as attention, memory, speed of information processing, and executive functions. Auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs), P50, mismatch negativity (MMN) can meet varied need and estimate such different cognitive dysfunction. Thus, we can examine whether insomnia is associated with different cognitive dysfunction by such multiple event-related potential (ERP) tasks. Methods we used polysomnography (PSG) to record such objective PSG parameters. ASSR, P50, and MMN were performed in sequence, different ERP components have been analyzed such as latency or amplitude between insomnia group and control group. And we chosed person correlation to make correlation analysis between different ERP components and gender, education, and sleep characteristics. Results there is a significant gender difference of ASSR latency found in insomnia group, and the similar result has been found in suppression ratio of amplitudes (S2:S1) for P50. Additionally, a significant correlation between sleep characteristics and ASSR, P50 has been found. Furthermore, there was a significant difference of MMN latency between insomnia and control group, and between sleep characteristics and varied MMN parameters as latency and amplitude. Discussion our results suggested robust electrophysiological abnormalities as ASSR, P50, and MMN in insomnia patients. Such abnormalities included gender difference, education difference, difference in depressive tendency, and difference in sleep parameters. That results revealed varied cognitive dysfunction involving inputs and processing in insomnia patients. And at the same time, we have also explored the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying the cognitive dysfunction with such different ERP tasks.

Improvements in the Recognition of Sounds after Presentation during Sleep

The effect of targeted memory reactivation during sleep on auditory recognition remains unstudied. We report here our verification that the recognition of sounds which are difficult to discriminate can be improved by repeat presentation during daytime sleep following training. After two sequential sessions of recognizing one of two deviant sounds in the oddball paradigm, subjects of the study group were presented with one of the recognized deviants in sleep stage 3 (slow-wave sleep, SWS). The control group was presented with a novel deviant during sleep, which had not been presented for recognition. After sleep, the study group showed significant improvement in the recognition of sounds presented during SWS, which was accompanied by an increase in the amplitude and a decrease in the latency of the mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the event-related potential. The control group showed no significant differences in discriminating sounds or in MMN parameters after sleep. Our data provide evidence that targeted reactivation of sound memory during sleep promotes the neuroplastic rearrangements underlying learning sound recognition.

Alterations in auditory change detection associated with tinnitus residual inhibition induced by auditory electrical stimulation.

Residual inhibition (RI) is a temporary phenomenon that happens following offset of appropriate complete or partial acoustical and electrical masking stimulations in people who experience tinnitus. The biologic mechanisms associated with RI are not yet fully understood. Few studies have been focused on RI. Auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) as a change-detection tool may be an appropriate tool to explore the processing changes because of tinnitus and RI. The purpose of this study was to investigate alterations in auditory change detection and auditory sensory memory related to RI induced by auditory electrical stimulation (AES) using MMN brain mapping in participants with tinnitus. This investigation was a single-blind randomized controlled clinical trial study. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups: AES and placebo electrical stimulation (PES). Twenty-eight participants with chronic subjective tinnitus aged 22- to 45-yr-old participated in the study. After randomization, all participants received both AES and PES for 1 min in different sessions. Brain mapping of multifeature MMN paradigm was recorded from 29 scalp electrodes pre- and post-AES and PES. Following AES, participants were categorized into two groups: RI and nonresidual inhibition (NRI). The grand average MMN waveforms and isopotential topographic maps were obtained in RI, NRI, and PES groups. Three MMN parameters for five deviants of frequency, intensity, duration, location, and silent gap were compared among three groups of RI, NRI, and PES. Statistical analyses revealed significant between-subject effects for AES on MMN amplitude of frequency and duration deviant, MMN area under the curve of frequency, intensity, and duration deviants. Presence of RI can reestablish change-detection mechanisms in the central auditory pathways. It is suggested that MMN is reliable for assessment of change-detection system in people with tinnitus. It can be a useful technique in monitoring effects of treatments and rehabilitation.

THU0313 Impaired Pre-Attentive Auditory Processing in Fibromyalgia: A Mismatch Negativity Study

BackgroundFibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by chronic widespread pain. Patients are more sensitive to sensory stimulation regardless of type and modality, suggesting generalized dysfunction in sensory processing. Mismatch Negativity (MMN) is...

Residual neural processing of musical sound features in adult cochlear implant users.

Auditory processing in general and music perception in particular are hampered in adult cochlear implant (CI) users. To examine the residual music perception skills and their underlying neural correlates in CI users implanted in adolescence or adulthood, we conducted an electrophysiological and behavioral study comparing adult CI users with normal-hearing age-matched controls (NH controls). We used a newly developed musical multi-feature paradigm, which makes it possible to test automatic auditory discrimination of six different types of sound feature changes inserted within a musical enriched setting lasting only 20 min. The presentation of stimuli did not require the participants’ attention, allowing the study of the early automatic stage of feature processing in the auditory cortex. For the CI users, we obtained mismatch negativity (MMN) brain responses to five feature changes but not to changes of rhythm, whereas we obtained MMNs for all the feature changes in the NH controls. Furthermore, the MMNs to deviants of pitch of CI users were reduced in amplitude and later than those of NH controls for changes of pitch and guitar timber. No other group differences in MMN parameters were found to changes in intensity and saxophone timber. Furthermore, the MMNs in CI users reflected the behavioral scores from a respective discrimination task and were correlated with patients’ age and speech intelligibility. Our results suggest that even though CI users are not performing at the same level as NH controls in neural discrimination of pitch-based features, they do possess potential neural abilities for music processing. However, CI users showed a disrupted ability to automatically discriminate rhythmic changes compared with controls. The current behavioral and MMN findings highlight the residual neural skills for music processing even in CI users who have been implanted in adolescence or adulthood. Highlights: -Automatic brain responses to musical feature changes reflect the limitations of central auditory processing in adult Cochlear Implant users.-The brains of adult CI users automatically process sound features changes even when inserted in a musical context.-CI users show disrupted automatic discriminatory abilities for rhythm in the brain.-Our fast paradigm demonstrate residual musical abilities in the brains of adult CI users giving hope for their future rehabilitation.

Interhemisphere Asymmetry of Auditory Evoked Potentials in Humans and Mismatch Negativity during Sound Source Localization

Results of studies in humans of long-latency auditory evoked potentials and mismatch negativity in conditions of dichotic stimulation during presentation of deviant stimuli producing instantaneous changes in stimulus azimuth from the null to +22.5 degrees or movement at rates of 11.25-112.5 degrees/sec from the midline of the head across the left and right hemispheres towards each ear are presented. These studies showed that the total amplitude of the components of the N1-P2 complex of auditory evoked potentials in the frontal lead of the right hemisphere was greater than that in the left hemisphere. Mismatch negativity parameters showed significant relationships with the spatial position of the sound source, namely, its displacement into the right hemisphere from the position of the sound image of the standard signal. Questions of the involvement of the right hemisphere in discriminating the spatial characteristics of sound sources are discussed.

Vowel-speech versus pure-tone processing in healthy subjects

Event Abstract Back to Event Vowel-speech versus pure-tone processing in healthy subjects Hiroko Iino1*, Miho Miyajima2, K. Hara1, K. Ohta2, 3 and M. Matsuura1 1 Department of Life Sciences and Bio-informatics, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan 2 Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences,Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan 3 Onda-daini Hospital , Japan OBJECTIVE:The mismatch negativity (MMN) is an objective index for preattentive detection of acoustic changes in human. The goal of this study was to detect differences in information processing between Japanese vowel speech and pure-tone stimulation using MMN in healthy adult volunteers. METHOD:We examined seven right-handed healthy adults (mean age 23.0±0.6 years, 2 females). The stimuli consisted of constant Japanese vowel-speech pairs (standard /a/ vs. deviant /o/) and pure-tone pairs (standard 1000Hz vs. deviant 1050Hz). Electrodes were placed at four midline sites (Fz, Cz, Pz, and Oz), and the left and right mastoid (LM/RM). MMN waveforms were derived by point-by-point subtraction of standard from deviant stimulation waveforms. Each individual MMN peak was determined within a window of 42-142ms for vowel-speech and of 64-164 ms for pure-tone according to the method described by Kasai (a 100-msec time window around the peak latency of the grand-averaged global field power). MMN parameters measured were mean amplitudes, peak amplitudes, and peak latency. Three- and two-way repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVA) were carried out using the super ANOVA program (Abacus). RESULTSANOVA for the MMN amplitudes revealed a significant main effect of stimulus condition, indicating that MMN amplitudes at Fz and Cz for vowel-speech were larger than those for pure-tone. In contrast, the MMN amplitudes at both mastoids did not differ between the two stimuli. MMN amplitudes were greatest from Fz and amplitudes from the left and the right mastoid were similar. The MMN latency for vowel-speech was shorter than that for pure-tone stimulus (91msec at Fz versus 109msec at Fz, respectively). No hemispheric laterality for processing of vowel-speech or pure-tone was observed. CONCLUSIONS:The present findings demonstrate that MMN for vowel-speech is larger and earlier than MMN for pure-tone. These findings are in accord with prior reports suggesting that vowel-speech is differentially processed from pure-tone. Conference: MMN 09 Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications, Budapest, Hungary, 4 Apr - 7 Apr, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Presentations Citation: Iino H, Miyajima M, Hara K, Ohta K and Matsuura M (2009). Vowel-speech versus pure-tone processing in healthy subjects. Conference Abstract: MMN 09 Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.05.159 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 26 Mar 2009; Published Online: 26 Mar 2009. * Correspondence: Hiroko Iino, Department of Life Sciences and Bio-informatics, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan, hiro.bi@tmd.ac.jp Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Hiroko Iino Miho Miyajima K. Hara K. Ohta M. Matsuura Google Hiroko Iino Miho Miyajima K. Hara K. Ohta M. Matsuura Google Scholar Hiroko Iino Miho Miyajima K. Hara K. Ohta M. Matsuura PubMed Hiroko Iino Miho Miyajima K. Hara K. Ohta M. Matsuura Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

The Role of Early Auditory Discrimination Deficits in Language Disorders

Language impairments can have a devastating effect on the individual’s life. Brain damage such as stroke may cause varying degrees of impaired language. Even milder language problems, such as developmental dyslexia or specific language impairment, can have long-lasting detrimental effects on the individual’s life, affecting both success at school as well as motivation and even self-esteem. In recent years, the mismatch negativity (MMN) has been intensively applied to study the neural basis of language impairments. These studies have shown that the MMN, which reflects the early stages of cortical sound discrimination, is abnormal in a large variety of language impairments. Furthermore, a close relationship between the MMN and some language disorders is suggested by significant correlations between the MMN and language test results. Further support is provided by follow-up studies suggesting that the MMN parameters may predict future language problems in children and by investigations indicating that intervention programs with an ameliorating effect also concurrently change the MMN. However, when interpreting the implications of MMN results it is important to acknowledge that this response specifically reflects early stages of auditory discrimination and should, therefore, be combined with measures probing the further steps of auditory processing for a more complete picture of the underlying deficits of language. The current review addresses how the MMN can be used in determining auditory impairments in language disorders such as aphasia, dyslexia, autism spectrum, and specific language impairment.

Event related potentials – are they useful in paediatric cochlear implant patients?

Background. The use of cochlear implants in profoundly deaf children is increasing with a trend towards earlier implantation. However, tools used at present to assess outcome are primarily based on behavioural tests, which are difficult to use effectively in young children. Event related potentials (ERP) such as Mismatch Negativity (MMN) have been proposed to have potential in assessing central processing in cochlear implant patients.1 Objective. The main objective of this study was to assess the correlation of ERP measures with behavioural assessment data to identify if they can be used to predict performance in cochlear implant patients. Methods. We carried out a prospective, blinded, non‐randomised study investigating auditory ERPs to speech stimuli in 35 cochlear implanted children. We compared P1, N2 and MMN parameters with behavioural outcome, assessed at the time of recording ERPs and 2 years later. Results. Auditory ERPs were identifiable in 30 out of 35 patients. MMN was recorded in 85% of star performers but in only 20% of poor performers. At behavioural reassessment 2 years later, 50% of poor performers who had demonstrated a MMN progressed to achieve ‘star’ performance in comparison to 25% of those who had not. Conclusion. These results indicate that MMN can be used to assess the functional status of auditory cortex in young children with cochlear implants and may provide an objective measure to predict future performance. However a large longitudinal study is needed to establish its sensitivity and specificity before using it as a clinical tool. Reference 1 Singh S., Liasis A., Towell A., et al. (2004) Event related potentials in cochlear implant patients. Ear and Hearing25(6), 598‐‐610

Evaluation of new MMN parameters in schizophrenia

ERPs could be helpful in the objectification of many psychological measures. In the last few decades one of the most commonly used ERPs has been the mismatch negativity (MMN) potential. It may be used to detect cognitive dysfunction in patients suffering from schizophrenia, dementia, depression, and can also be successfully applied in treatment monitoring. Nevertheless, changes of MMN parameters (prolongation of latency or reduction of amplitude) are not sufficiently specific to help to diagnose particular diseases. In this study we looked for more strict and specific MMN characteristics selective for schizophrenia. Fifteen healthy human subjects and twelve suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders were studied. Two new parameters were considered: the speed of ascending part of MMN slope (SAS) and the half area of the MMN wave. These two measures could differentiate the early stages of cognitive processing disturbances in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Practical issues in the clinical application of mismatch negativity.

The mismatch negativity (MMN) recordings provide an objective measure of the preattentive, automatic auditory discrimination function. This article deals with issues central to the recording of the MMN and the interpretation of the results for clinical and electrodiagnostic purposes. The methods of acquiring as pure an MMN response as possible, i.e., one not contaminated by auditory cortical responses reflecting other functions, are discussed first. Second, other technical questions associated with the recording are reported on, e.g., what MMN parameters should be recorded and how, what is the smallest recordable MMN response, and what is the repeatability of the MMN recordings. Then, the effect of various physiological factors on the MMN (age, alertness, gender, topographic distribution of the MMN) is considered. The correlation between auditory discrimination performance and the MMN amplitude, observed in normal population, is dealt with. Finally, there is a short concluding overview on clinical findings of MMN recordings and discussion on their electrodiagnostic applications.