The Neuronal Basis of Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and Its Clinical Applications - Measuring the Genuine Mismatch Negativity in the Auditory Multi-Feature Paradigm

Sep 29, 2026

Mismatch negativity (MMN) is a widely studied EEG event-related potential component reflecting deviance detection within the auditory domain and supporting auditory regularity processing. The auditory multi-feature oddball paradigm measures MMN for different sound features efficiently, but adaptation and genuine deviance are often conflated in the “classic” deviant-minus-standard computation. This work proposes a cascadic control to separate adaptation and physical differences, enabling measurement of genuine MMN for frequency, location, intensity, and duration deviants.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

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Introduction

Event-related potentials and MMN background

Traditional oddball paradigm and extensions

Multi-feature paradigm and adaptation control

European Journal of Neuroscience SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS The Neuronal Basis of Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and Its Clinical Applications Measuring the Genuine Mismatch Negativity in the Auditory Multi-Feature Paradigm Andreas Widmann1 | Erich Schröger1 | Nicole Wetzel2,3,4 1Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany | 2Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany | 3Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, Germany | 4University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, Stendal, Germany Correspondence: Andreas Widmann (widmann@uni-leipzig.de) Received: 25 June 2025 | Revised: 4 December 2025 | Accepted: 10 December 2025 Associate Editor: Carles Escera Keywords: adaptation | auditory | genuine MMN | mismatch negativity | multi-feature oddball paradigm | schizophrenia ABSTRACT The mismatch negativity (MMN) is a well-studied event-related potential (ERP) component in the EEG reflecting deviance detection in the auditory modality. It taps into the basic functioning of auditory regularity processing. The auditory multi-feature paradigm is widely used in sensitive and special populations to measure the MMN simultaneously for different sound features ina short amount of time. It is consensus in the field that both adaptation and genuine deviance detection contribute to the “classic”MMN computed as deviant minus standard ERP difference. However, no attempts have yet been made to disentangle adaptation from the “genuine” MMN in the multi-feature paradigm. Here, we propose a cascadic control condition for the auditory multifeature paradigm that controls for adaptation and physical differences between standard and deviant sounds. Using this new paradigm, we measured the genuine MMN, computed as deviant minus control ERP difference, for frequency, location, intensity, and duration deviants. The genuine MMN amplitudes for frequency and location were found substantially smaller than in traditional paradigms. No genuine intensity MMN and only a later and smaller genuine duration MMN were found. The results suggest stronger contributions of adaptation than in the traditional oddball paradigm. Controlling for adaptation is particularly relevant in research concerning predictive processing and the use of the MMN as a biomarker related to impaired NMDA receptor synaptic transmission as observed in schizophrenia. The presented multi-feature cascadic control condition enables the measurement of the genuine MMN, which presumably reflects higher-order cortical computations, such as predictive processing, still in a short amount of time. 1 | Introduction The mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the eventrelated brain potentials (ERP), first described more than 40 years ago (e.g. , Näätänen et al. 1978), is one of the best researched ERP components with contributions from a wide area of disciplines such as neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, physiology, linguistics, and others. It is elicited in response to randomly occurring, rare, irregular sounds—deviants—different in some sound feature from a context of frequent, repeating, regular sounds—standards—in the so-called oddball paradigm (in the following referred to as the “traditional” | Abbreviations: ANOVA, analysis of variance; BF, Bayes factor; dB SPL, decibel sound pressure level; EEG, electroencephalogram; EOG, electrooculogram; ERP, event-related potential; FIR, finite impulse response; ICA, independent component analysis; ITD, interaural time difference; LH, left hemisphere; M, mean; MEG, magnetoencephalogram; MMN, mismatch negativity; NMDA, N-methyl-D-aspartate; OSF, Open Science Framework; PC, personal computer; RH, right hemisphere; ROI, region of interest; SD, standard deviation; SOA, stimulus-onset asynchrony; TW, time window. | | --- | | This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, prov

FAQs

What does mismatch negativity (MMN) represent in this study?

MMN is an EEG component reflecting deviance detection in the auditory modality and indexing processing of auditory regularity.

Why is the auditory multi-feature paradigm important for MMN measurement?

It measures MMN for multiple sound features at the same time while greatly reducing experimental duration, making it suitable for sensitive or clinical populations.

How does the study disentangle “genuine” MMN from adaptation effects?

It introduces a cascadic control condition that controls for adaptation and physical differences between standard and deviant sounds, computing genuine MMN as deviant minus control ERP difference.

Sep 29, 2026

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