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An increasing number of studies investigate the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) or use the vMMN as a tool to probe various aspects of human cognition. This paper reviews the theoretical underpinnings of vMMN in the light of methodological considerations and provides recommendations for measuring and interpreting the vMMN. The following key issues are discussed from the experimentalist's point of view in a predictive coding framework: (1) experimental protocols and procedures to control \"refractoriness\" effects; (2) methods to control attention; (3) vMMN and veridical perception.

In the flanker task, the behavioral performance for incompatible stimuli is worse in the mostly compatible (rare) condition than in the equiprobable condition. Furthermore, incompatible stimuli evoke visual mismatch negativity (VMMN) when comparing the rare and equiprobable conditions. Compatible and incompatible stimuli differ in terms of their shape and type. This study aimed to examine whether VMMN evoked by rare incompatible stimuli were associated with the shape or type of the stimulus. In a modified version of the flanker task, stimuli were manipulated by two shapes (typical or peculiar) and two types (compatible or incompatible): typical compatible stimuli (< <  <  <  < and >  >  >  > >), typical incompatible stimuli (> >  <  >  > and <  <  >  < <), peculiar compatible stimuli (+ <  <  <  + and +  >  >  > +), and peculiar incompatible stimuli (+ >  <  >  + and +  <  >  < +). In the rare condition, typical incompatible, peculiar compatible, and peculiar incompatible stimuli were presented with a probability of 10%, whereas all the stimuli were presented equally in the equiprobable condition. Right posterior negativity from 200 to 250 ms was significantly more negative in the rare condition than in the equiprobable condition for typical and peculiar incompatible stimuli; however, this difference was not observed for peculiar compatible stimuli. VMMN was significantly more negative for typical and peculiar incompatible stimuli than for peculiar compatible stimuli, and was not significantly different between typical and peculiar incompatible stimuli. These findings suggest that VMMN for incompatible stimuli is associated with the type rather than the shape of the stimulus.

Mismatch negativity (MMN) amplitude is reduced in psychotic disorders and associated with symptoms and functioning. Due to these robust associations, it is often considered a biomarker for psychotic illness. The relationship between MMN and clinical outcomes has been examined well in early onset psychotic illness; however, its stability and predictive utility in chronic samples are not clear. We examined the five-year stability of MMN amplitude over two timepoints in individuals with established psychotic disorders (cases; = 132) and never-psychotic participants (NP; = 170), as well as longitudinal associations with clinical symptoms and functioning. MMN amplitude exhibited good temporal stability (cases, = 0.53; never-psychotic, = 0.52). In cases, structural equation models revealed MMN amplitude to be a significant predictor of worsening auditory hallucinations ( = 0.19), everyday functioning ( = -0.13), and illness severity ( = -0.12) at follow-up. Meanwhile, initial IQ ( = -0.24), negative symptoms ( = 0.23), and illness severity ( = -0.16) were significant predictors of worsening MMN amplitude five years later. These results imply that MMN measures a neural deficit that is reasonably stable up to five years. Results support disordered cognition and negative symptoms as preceding reduced MMN, which then may operate as a mechanism driving reductions in everyday functioning and the worsening of auditory hallucinations in chronic psychotic disorders. This pattern may inform models of illness course, clarifying the relationships amongst biological mechanisms of predictive processing and clinical deficits in chronic psychosis and allowing us to better understand the mechanisms driving such impairments over time.

Automatic detection of information changes in the visual environment is crucial for individual survival. Researchers use the oddball paradigm to study the brain’s response to frequently presented (standard) stimuli and occasionally presented (deviant) stimuli. The difference wave is called visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), which is obtained by subtracting event-related potentials (ERPs) evoked by the deviant from ERPs evoked by the standard. There are three hypotheses to explain the vMMN. The sensory fatigue (or refractoriness) hypothesis considers that weakened neural activity caused by repetition results in decreased ERPs of the standard. The memory trace hypothesis proposes that vMMN results from increased responses to the deviant. The predictive coding hypothesis attributes changes to a combination of the two effects. However, when distinguishing between these effects, previous researchers did not consider the effect of low-level features on the vMMN. In this experiment, we presented an oddball sequence, reverse oddball sequence, and equiprobable sequence. The standard (fear face, presented at 80% probability) of the reverse oddball sequence and the same type of stimulus (fear face, 20%) of the equiprobable sequence were subtracted from the deviant (fear face, 20%) of the oddball sequence. The influence of the presentation probability of the standard on the vMMN (i.e., refractoriness) was tested, excluding the effect of low-level features. The results showed no significant difference between the reverse oddball vMMN and the equiprobable vMMN within the range of 100 to 350 ms following stimulus onset, while the vMMN effect was significant, indicating the probability of the standard did not affect vMMN, which supported the memory trace hypothesis. Additionally, the fear face induced more negative vMMN than the neutral within the range of 100 to 150 ms, suggesting a negative bias. Time-frequency analysis showed that the deviant had stronger oscillatory responses in theta band than the standard (vMORs). However, there was no difference between reverse oddball vMORs and equiprobable vMORs, indicating that vMORs reflect an enhanced response to the deviant in terms of neural oscillation, which supports the memory trace hypothesis.

•Assessment in ordinary cognitive domains could not discriminate migraine from TTH.•Migraine and TTH showed distinct patterns in automatic emotional processing.•TTH might serve as an interim stage between migraine and healthy controls.•EMMN could serve as an auxiliary biomarker in diagnosis of undefined headaches. It is important to discriminate different headaches in clinical practice, and neurocognitive biomarkers may serve as objective tools. Several reports have suggested potential cognitive impairment for primary headaches, whereas cognitions within specific domains remain elusive, e.g., emotional processing. In this study, we aimed to characterize processing of facial expressions in migraine and tension-type headache (TTH) by analyzing expression-related visual mismatch negativity (EMMN) and explored whether their processing patterns were distinct. Altogether, 73 headache patients (20 migraine with aura (MA), 28 migraine without aura (MwoA), 25 TTH) and 27 age-matched healthy controls were recruited. After a battery of mood/neuropsychological evaluations, an expression-related oddball paradigm containing multiple models of neutral, happy and sad faces was used to investigate automatic emotional processing. We observed cognitive impairment in all headache patients, especially in attention/execution subdomains, but no discrepancy existed among different headaches. Although analyses of P1/N170 did not reach significant levels, amplitude of early and late EMMN was markedly diminished in MA and MwoA compared with controls and TTH, regardless of happy or sad expression. Moreover, sad EMMN was larger (more negative) than happy EMMN only in controls, while not in all headache groups. Our findings implied that migraine, rather than TTH, might lead to more severe impairment of automatic emotional processing, which was manifested as no observable EMMN elicitation and disappearance of negative bias effect. The EMMN component could assist in discrimination of migraine from TTH and diagnosis of undefined headaches, and its availability needed further validations.

Our brain is able to automatically detect changes in sensory stimulation, including in vision. A large variety of changes of features in stimulation elicit a deviance-reflecting event-related potential (ERP) component known as the mismatch negativity (MMN). The present study has three main goals: (1) to register vMMN using a rapidly presented stream of schematic faces (neutral, happy, and angry; adapted from Öhman etal., 2001); (2) to compare elicited vMMNs to angry and happy schematic faces in two different paradigms, in a traditional oddball design with frequent standard and rare target and deviant stimuli (12.5% each) and in an version of an optimal multi-feature paradigm with several deviant stimuli (altogether 37.5%) in the stimulus block; (3) to compare vMMNs to subjective ratings of valence, arousal and attention capture for happy and angry schematic faces, i.e., to estimate the effect of affective value of stimuli on their automatic detection. Eleven observers (19-32 years, six women) took part in both experiments, an oddball and optimum paradigm. Stimuli were rapidly presented schematic faces and an object with face-features that served as the target stimulus to be detected by a button-press. Results show that a vMMN-type response at posterior sites was equally elicited in both experiments. Post-experimental reports confirmed that the angry face attracted more automatic attention than the happy face but the difference did not emerge directly at the ERP level. Thus, when interested in studying change detection in facial expressions we encourage the use of the optimum (multi-feature) design in order to save time and other experimental resources.

The detection of unattended visual changes is investigated by the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) component of event-related potentials (ERPs). The vMMN is measured as the difference between the ERPs to infrequent (deviant) and frequent (standard) stimuli irrelevant to the ongoing task. In the present study, we used human faces expressing different emotions as deviants and standards. In such studies, participants perform various tasks, so their attention is diverted from the vMMN-related stimuli. If such tasks vary in their attentional demand, they might influence the outcome of vMMN studies. In this study, we compared four kinds of frequently used tasks: (1) a tracking task that demanded continuous performance, (2) a detection task where the target stimuli appeared at any time, (3) a detection task where target stimuli appeared only in the inter-stimulus intervals, and (4) a task where target stimuli were members of the stimulus sequence. This fourth task elicited robust vMMN, while in the other three tasks, deviant stimuli elicited moderate posterior negativity (vMMN). We concluded that the ongoing task had a marked influence on vMMN; thus, it is important to consider this effect in vMMN studies.

Background Our previous study demonstrated that a 6-month combined physical and cognitive training program improved mismatch negativity (MMN)—an event-related potential reflecting the brain’s automatic detection of environmental changes—in older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD). However, not all individuals benefited equally from the intervention. Identifying baseline predictors of intervention outcomes could enable the prediction of individual responsiveness and support the development of personalized, stratified intervention strategies to promote brain health in this at-risk population. This study aimed to identify baseline predictors of response to a 6-month combined cognitive and physical training program among older adults with SCD. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis of a cluster-randomized trial involving 33 older adults with SCD who participated in twice-weekly integrated training sessions. MMN was assessed for the analytic sample ( n  = 21) as the primary outcome measure. Baseline predictors included age, general cognitive function, physical and cognitive activity engagement, and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype. Linear regression analyses were performed to examine predictors of change in MMN amplitude from baseline to post-intervention. Results Regression analysis indicated that APOE ε4 non-carriers showed significantly greater improvement in MMN amplitude (β = ‒0.449, p  = 0.027). Additionally, lower baseline levels of physical activity demonstrated a trend toward association with greater MMN gains (β = ‒0.392, p  = 0.050), suggesting that individuals with more sedentary lifestyles may derive greater benefit from the intervention. Conclusions APOE ε4 carrier status and baseline physical activity levels may be associated with the effectiveness of multidomain interventions in older adults with SCD.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate speech processing development in children with normal hearing (NH) and cochlear implants (CI) groups using a multifeature event-related potential (ERP) paradigm. Singing is associated to enhanced attention and speech perception. Therefore it’s connection to ERPs was investigated in the CI group. Methods: The paradigm included five change types in a pseudoword: two easy- (duration, gap) and three difficult-to-detect (vowel, pitch, intensity) with CIs. The positive mismatch responses (pMMR), mismatch negativity (MMN), P3a and late differentiating negativity (LDN) responses of preschoolers (below 6 y 9 m) and schoolchildren (above 6 y 9 m) with NH or CIs at two time points (T1, T2) were investigated with Linear Mixed Modelling (LMM). For the CI group, the association of singing at home and ERP development was modelled with LMM. Results: Overall, responses elicited by the easy- and difficult to detect changes differed between the CI and NH groups. Compared to the NH group, the CI group had smaller MMNs to vowel duration changes and gaps, larger P3a responses to gaps, and larger pMMRs and smaller LDNs to vowel identity changes. Preschoolers had smaller P3a responses and larger LDNs to gaps, and larger pMMRs to vowel identity changes than schoolchildren. In addition, the pMMRs to gaps increased from T1 to T2 in preschoolers. More parental singing in the CI group was associated with increasing pMMR and less parental singing with decreasing P3a amplitudes from T1 to T2. Conclusions: The multifeature paradigm is suitable for assessing cortical speech processing development in children. In children with CIs, cortical discrimination is often reflected in pMMR and P3a responses, and in MMN and LDN responses in children with NH. Moreover, the cortical speech discrimination of children with CIs is develops late, and over time and age, their speech sound change processing changes as does the processing of children with NH. Importantly, multisensory activities such as parental singing can lead to improvement in the discrimination and attention shifting towards speech changes in children with CIs. These novel results should be taken into account in future research and rehabilitation.