Mismatch Negativity Task

HED Task ID: hedtsk_mismatch_negativity

Also known as: MMN, Mismatch Negativity Paradigm

Passive auditory oddball in which rare deviant sounds elicit a negative ERP around 150–250 ms, indexing pre-attentive auditory change detection.

Description

Participants are passively exposed to repetitive acoustic stimuli (standard tones, 80%) occasionally interrupted by deviant tones (20%) differing in pitch, duration, or location. The MMN can be elicited without active attention. Recorded via EEG, the MMN appears as a negative deflection peaking at 100-250 ms after deviance onset at frontocentral sites. It reflects automatic, pre-attentive comparison between incoming input and a neural representation of the standard stimulus stored in sensory (echoic) memory. MMN is used as a biomarker of auditory processing capacity and has clinical applications in schizophrenia, coma prognosis, and language development research.

Inclusion test

Procedure

A repetitive standard tone is occasionally replaced by a deviant tone differing in frequency, duration, or intensity. Participants typically ignore the sounds while reading or watching a silent video.

Manipulation

Deviant type (frequency, duration, intensity, phoneme); deviant probability; magnitude of deviance; ISI.

Measurement

MMN amplitude and latency (deviant-minus-standard difference wave, peaking 100–250 ms); scalp topography.

Variations

Variation

Description

Justification

Frequency MMN

Deviant tone frequency differs from standard.

Frequency deviant in auditory stream; canonical MMN stimulus type

Duration MMN

Deviant tone duration differs from standard.

Duration deviant; different acoustic dimension

Intensity MMN

Deviant tone intensity differs from standard.

Intensity deviant; tests loudness change detection

Location/Spatial MMN

Deviant sound location differs from standard.

Spatial location change; different perceptual dimension

Complex Pattern MMN

Rule-violation deviants in patterned sequences.

Pattern-level violation; higher-order regularity processing

Multi-Feature MMN (Optimum)

Multiple deviant types within single paradigm; efficient clinical protocol.

Multiple deviants in single paradigm; different stimulus sequence

Phoneme/Speech MMN

Vowel, consonant, or syllable deviants; language-specific processing.

Phonemic contrast as deviant; linguistic processing

Visual MMN (vMMN)

Deviant visual stimuli in sequences; tests predictive coding in vision.

Visual change detection; different sensory modality

Roving Standard MMN

Standard identity changes after train of repetitions; connects to repetition suppression.

Standard changes after each sequence; different stimulus history structure

Cognitive processes

This task engages the following cognitive processes:

Key references

  • {‘authors’: ‘Näätänen, R., Gaillard, A., & Mäntysalo, S.’, ‘year’: 1978, ‘title’: ‘Early selective-attention effect on evoked potential reinterpreted’, ‘venue’: ‘Acta Psychologica’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Acta Psychologica’, ‘volume’: ‘42’, ‘issue’: ‘4’, ‘pages’: ‘313-329’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/0001-6918(78)90006-9’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Naatanen, R., Gaillard, A. W. K., & Mantysalo, S. (1978). Early selective-attention effect on evoked potential reinterpreted. Acta Psychologica, 42(4), 313-329.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-6918(78)90006-9’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

  • {‘authors’: ‘Näätänen, R., Paavilainen, P., Rinne, T., & Alho, K.’, ‘year’: 2007, ‘title’: ‘The mismatch negativity (MMN) in basic research of central auditory processing: A review’, ‘venue’: ‘Clinical Neurophysiology’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Clinical Neurophysiology’, ‘volume’: ‘118’, ‘issue’: ‘12’, ‘pages’: ‘2544-2590’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/j.clinph.2007.04.026’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Naatanen, R., Paavilainen, P., Rinne, T., & Alho, K. (2007). The mismatch negativity (MMN) in basic research of central auditory processing: A review. Clinical Neurophysiology, 118(12), 2544-2590.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2007.04.026’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

  • {‘authors’: ‘Garrido, M. I., Kilner, J. M., Stephan, K. E., & Friston, K. J.’, ‘year’: 2009, ‘title’: ‘The mismatch negativity: A review of underlying mechanisms’, ‘venue’: ‘Clinical Neurophysiology’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Clinical Neurophysiology’, ‘volume’: ‘120’, ‘issue’: ‘3’, ‘pages’: ‘453-463’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/j.clinph.2008.11.029’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Garrido, M. I., Kilner, J. M., Stephan, K. E., & Friston, K. J. (2009). The mismatch negativity: A review of underlying mechanisms. Clinical Neurophysiology, 120(3), 453-463.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2008.11.029’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

Recent references

  • {‘authors’: ‘Näätänen, R., Kujala, T., & Winkler, I.’, ‘year’: 2011, ‘title’: ‘Auditory Processing Skills in Language Development and Learning Disorders’, ‘venue’: ‘Psychophysiology’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Psychophysiology’, ‘volume’: ‘48’, ‘issue’: ‘s1’, ‘pages’: ‘4–22’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01239.x’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Näätänen, R., Kujala, T., & Winkler, I. (2011). Auditory processing that leads to conscious perception: A unique window to central auditory processing opened by the mismatch negativity and related responses. Psychophysiology, 48(1), 4–22.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01239.x’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

  • {‘authors’: ‘Garrido, M. I., Kilner, J. M., Stephan, K. E., & Friston, K. J.’, ‘year’: 2009, ‘title’: ‘The mismatch negativity: A review of underlying mechanisms’, ‘venue’: ‘Clinical Neurophysiology’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Clinical Neurophysiology’, ‘volume’: ‘120’, ‘issue’: ‘3’, ‘pages’: ‘453-463’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/j.clinph.2008.11.029’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Garrido, M. I., Kilner, J. M., Stephan, K. E., & Friston, K. J. (2009). The mismatch negativity: A review of underlying mechanisms. Clinical Neurophysiology, 120(3), 453–463.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2008.11.029’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

  • {‘authors’: ‘Erickson, M. A., Ruffle, A., & Gold, J. M.’, ‘year’: 2016, ‘title’: ‘A Meta-Analysis of Mismatch Negativity in Schizophrenia: From Clinical Risk to Disease Specificity and Progression’, ‘venue’: ‘Biological Psychiatry’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Biological Psychiatry’, ‘volume’: ‘79’, ‘issue’: ‘12’, ‘pages’: ‘980-987’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.08.025’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Erickson, M. A., Ruffle, A., & Gold, J. M. (2016). A meta-analysis of mismatch negativity in schizophrenia: From clinical risk to disease specificity and progression. Biological Psychiatry, 79(12), 980–987.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.08.025’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

  • {‘authors’: ‘Wacongne, C., Labyt, E., van Wassenhove, V., Bekinschtein, T., Naccache, L., & Dehaene, S.’, ‘year’: 2011, ‘title’: ‘Evidence for a hierarchy of predictions and prediction errors in human cortex’, ‘venue’: ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’, ‘volume’: ‘108’, ‘issue’: ‘51’, ‘pages’: ‘20754-20759’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1073/pnas.1117807108’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Wacongne, C., Labyt, E., van Wassenhove, V., Bekinschtein, T., Naccache, L., & Dehaene, S. (2011). Evidence for a hierarchy of predictions and prediction errors in the human cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(51), 20754–20759.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1117807108’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}