Page Last Updated: October 16, 2025

Auditory Mismatch Negativity Taskđź”—

Required Reading: Overview & EEG Protocols & Quality Control Procedures

The Auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) Task (v.11.29.23) facilitates examining auditory evoked potentials and habituation/dishabituation to auditory stimuli. The MMN captures differences in neural responses to standard (“ba”) and deviant (“da”) stimuli. From this task the MMN difference wave is computed, which is also known as the Mismatch Response (MMR). The amplitude/latency of this difference wave has been linked to language (Choudhury & Benasich, 2011), temperament/personality (Gurrera et al., 2001; Marshall et al., 2009), internalizing problems (Reeb-Sutherland et al., 2009), externalizing/attention problems (Gumenyuk et al., 2005), and disorders including autism (Lepistö et al., 2005; Schwartz et al., 2018) and reading ability/dyslexia (Leppänen et al., 2010; Norton, Beach, et al., 2021).

Task Detailsđź”—

Auditory stimuli (“ba” = 196 ms; “da” = 198 ms) are presented while a video plays on an iPad (brightness at maximum, in airplane mode, and unplugged) to serve as a visual distractor. The task is paused for breaks as needed.

Visit 3 trial progression schematic:

Trial Count
  • Standard condition: 569
  • Deviant condition: 98
  • Total: 667
 Timing Details
  • Stimulus duration: 200 ms
  • InterStimulus interval: 820 ms (V03), 600 ms (V04/V06)
  • Total trial length: 1020 ms (V03), 800 ms (V04/V06)

Referencesđź”—

Choudhury, N., & Benasich, A. A. (2011). Maturation of auditory evoked potentials from 6 to 48 months: Prediction to 3 and 4 year language and cognitive abilities. Clinical Neurophysiology, 122(2), 320–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2010.05.035

Fox, N. A., Pérez-Edgar, K., Morales, S., Brito, N. H., Campbell, A. M., Cavanagh, J. F., Gabard-Durnam, L. J., Hudac, C. M., Key, A. P., Larson-Prior, L. J., Pedapati, E. V., Norton, E. S., Reetzke, R., Roberts, T. P., Rutter, T. M., Scott, L. S., Shuffrey, L. C., Antúnez, M., Boylan, M. R., … Yoder, L. (2024). The development and structure of the Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) study EEG Protocol. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 69, 101447. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101447

Gumenyuk, V., Korzyukov, O., Escera, C., Hämäläinen, M., Huotilainen, M., Häyrinen, T., Oksanen, H., Näätänen, R., Von Wendt, L., & Alho, K. (2005). Electrophysiological evidence of enhanced distractibility in ADHD children. Neuroscience Letters, 374(3), 212–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2004.10.081

Gurrera, R. J., O’Donnell, B. F., Nestor, P. G., Gainski, J., & McCarley, R. W. (2001). The P3 auditory event–related brain potential indexes major personality traits. Biological Psychiatry, 49(11), 922–929. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(00)01067-2

Lachmann, T., Berti, S., Kujala, T., & Schröger, E. (2005). Diagnostic subgroups of developmental dyslexia have different deficits in neural processing of tones and phonemes. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 55(2), 105–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2004.11.005

Lepistö, T., Kujala, T., Vanhala, R., Alku, P., Huotilainen, M., & Näätänen, R. (2005). The discrimination of and orienting to speech and non-speech sounds in children with autism. Brain Research, 1066(1–2), 147–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2005.10.052

Leppänen, P. H., Hämäläinen, J. A., Salminen, H. K., Eklund, K. M., Guttorm, T. K., Lohvansuu, K., Puolakanaho, A., & Lyytinen, H. (2010). Newborn brain event-related potentials revealing atypical processing of sound frequency and the subsequent association with later literacy skills in children with familial dyslexia. Cortex, 46(10), 1362–1376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2010.06.003

Marshall, P. J., Reeb, B. C., & Fox, N. A. (2009). Electrophysiological responses to auditory novelty in temperamentally different 9-month-old infants. Developmental Science, 12(4), 568–582. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00808.x

Morr, M. L., Shafer, V. L., Kreuzer, J. A., & Kurtzberg, D. (2002). Maturation of mismatch negativity in typically developing infants and preschool children. Ear and Hearing, 23(2), 118–136. https://doi.org/10.1097/00003446-200204000-00005

Norton, E. S., Beach, S. D., Eddy, M. D., McWeeny, S., Ozernov-Palchik, O., Gaab, N., & Gabrieli, J. D. (2021). ERP mismatch negativity amplitude and asymmetry reflect phonological and rapid automatized naming skills in English-speaking kindergartners. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 15, 624617. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.624617

Reeb-Sutherland, B. C., Vanderwert, R. E., Degnan, K. A., Marshall, P. J., Pérez-Edgar, K., Chronis-Tuscano, A., Pine, D. S., & Fox, N. A. (2009). Attention to novelty in behaviorally inhibited adolescents moderates risk for anxiety. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50(11), 1365–1372. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02170.x

Schwartz, S., Shinn-Cunningham, B., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2018). Meta-analysis and systematic review of the literature characterizing auditory mismatch negativity in individuals with autism. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 87, 106–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.01.008