The mismatch negativity (MMN) in basic research of central auditory processing: A review
Abstract
In the present article, the basic research using the mismatch negativity (MMN) and analogous results obtained by using the magnetoencephalography (MEG) and other brain-imaging technologies is reviewed. This response is elicited by any discriminable change in auditory stimulation but recent studies extended the notion of the MMN even to higher-order cognitive processes such as those involving grammar and semantic meaning. Moreover, MMN data also show the presence of automatic intelligent processes such as stimulus anticipation at the level of auditory cortex. In addition, the MMN enables one to establish the brain processes underlying the initiation of attention switch to, conscious perception of, sound change in an unattended stimulus stream.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The mismatch negativity/response (MMN/R) is one of the most widely studied neural signatures that indexes neural sensitivity to sound change.
“First documented using the Electroencephalography (EEG), the mismatch negativity/response (MMN/R) is one of the most widely studied neural signatures that indexes neural sensitivity to sound change [36].”
Cites
Kuhl, P. K. (1991) · Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/bf03212211 · Cited by 1,331 · see citing works
Giard, M. H., & Peronnet, F. (1999) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/089892999563544 · Cited by 1,072 · see citing works
A multimodal cortical network for the detection of changes in the sensory environment
Downar, J., Crawley, A. P., Mikulis, D. J., & Davis, K. D. (2000) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/72991 · Cited by 947 · see citing works
Attentive novelty detection in humans is governed by pre-attentive sensory memory
Tiitinen, H., May, P., Reinikainen, K., & Näätänen, R. (1994) · Nature · doi:10.1038/372090a0 · Cited by 637 · see citing works
Self-citationMismatch negativity potentials and cognitive impairment in schizophrenia
Baldeweg, T., Klugman, A., Gruzelier, J., & Hirsch, S. R. (2004) · Schizophrenia Research · doi:10.1016/j.schres.2003.09.009 · Cited by 321 · cited 3× · see citing works
“In addition, the MMN amplitude gets larger with the increasing number of standards preceding a deviant (Sams et al., 1983; Imada et al., 1993a,b; Baldeweg et al., 2004; Haenschel et al., 2005; Javitt et al., 1998).”
BackgroundMethodTemporal window of integration revealed by MMN to sound omission.
Yabe, H., Tervaniemi, M., Reinikainen, K., & Näätänen, R. (1997) · NeuroReport · doi:10.1097/00001756-199705260-00035 · Cited by 313 · cited 5× · see citing works
“…1999; Bertoli et al., 2001, 2002; Uther et al., 2003), and, as already reviewed, stimulus omission in blocks with a short constant SOA (Raij et al., 1997; Yabe et al., 1997, 1998; Oceák et al., 2006) or the omission of the second tone of two paired tones with a short constant SOA (Tervaniemi et…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationEffects of language experience: neural commitment to language-specific auditory patterns
Zhang, Y., Kuhl, P. K., Imada, T., Kotani, M., & Tohkura, Y. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.02.040 · Cited by 179 · see citing works
Decay time of the auditory sensory memory trace during wakefulness and REM sleep.
Atienza, M., Cantero, J. L., & Gómez, C. M. (2000) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/1469-8986.3740485 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The mismatch negativity: a review of underlying mechanisms
Garrido, M. I., Kilner, J. M., Stephan, K. E., & Friston, K. J. (2009) · Clinical Neurophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2008.11.029 · Cited by 1,441 · see citing works
“While the MMN has been studied intensively in the auditory modality (for a recent review see Näätänen et al., 2007), some studies show evidence for the existence of a visual MMN counterpart (Astikainen et al., 2004; Czigler et al., 2004; see Pazo-Alvarez et al., 2003, for review).”
BackgroundDuncan, C. C., Barry, R. J., Connolly, J. F., Fischer, C., Michie, P. T., Näätänen, R., Polich, J., Reinvang, I., & Van Petten, C. (2009) · Clinical Neurophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2009.07.045 · Cited by 1,191 · see citing works
Self-citationExpectation (and attention) in visual cognition
Summerfield, C., & Egner, T. (2009) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.06.003 · Cited by 950 · see citing works
Legrain, V., Iannetti, G. D., Plaghki, L., & Mouraux, A. (2011) · Progress in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2010.10.005 · Cited by 854 · see citing works
A neuronal model of predictive coding accounting for the mismatch negativity.
Wacongne, C., Changeux, J.-P., & Dehaene, S. (2012) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5003-11.2012 · Cited by 542 · see citing works
From the neuromatrix to the pain matrix (and back)
Iannetti, G. D., & Mouraux, A. (2010) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/s00221-010-2340-1 · Cited by 554 · see citing works
Mismatch negativity (MMN), the deviance-elicited auditory deflection, explained
May, P. J. C., & Tiitinen, H. (2010) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00856.x · Cited by 549 · see citing works
Auditory processing in autism spectrum disorder: A review
O’Connor, K. (2012) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.11.008 · Cited by 466 · see citing works
Great Expectations: Is there Evidence for Predictive Coding in Auditory Cortex?
Heilbron, M., & Chait, M. (2018) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.07.061 · Cited by 428 · see citing works
Lost in thoughts: Neural markers of low alertness during mind wandering
Braboszcz, C., & Delorme, A. (2011) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.10.008 · Cited by 425 · see citing works
Erickson, M. A., Ruffle, A., & Gold, J. M. (2016) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.08.025 · Cited by 426 · see citing works
Todorovic, A., & de Lange, F. P. (2012) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2227-12.2012 · Cited by 326 · see citing works
Neurons along the auditory pathway exhibit a hierarchical organization of prediction error
Parras, G. G., Nieto-Diego, J., Carbajal, G. V., Valdés-Baizabal, C., Escera, C., & Malmierca, M. S. (2017) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-017-02038-6 · Cited by 344 · see citing works
Brain responses in humans reveal ideal observer-like sensitivity to complex acoustic patterns
Barascud, N., Pearce, M. T., Griffiths, T. D., Friston, K. J., & Chait, M. (2016) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1508523113 · Cited by 296 · see citing works
Fedorenko, E., & Varley, R. (2016) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/nyas.13046 · Cited by 247 · see citing works
Disruption of hierarchical predictive coding during sleep
Strauss, M., Sitt, J. D., King, J.-R., Elbaz, M., Azizi, L., Buiatti, M., Naccache, L., van Wassenhove, V., & Dehaene, S. (2015) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1501026112 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
Bendixen, A., Schroger, E., & Winkler, I. (2009) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1493-09.2009 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
Thomas, M. L., Green, M. F., Hellemann, G., Sugar, C. A., Tarasenko, M., Calkins, M. E., Greenwood, T. A., Gur, R. E., Gur, R. C., Lazzeroni, L. C., et al. (2017) · JAMA Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.2980 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
Sinclair, D., Oranje, B., Razak, K. A., Siegel, S. J., & Schmid, S. (2017) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.05.029 · Cited by 198 · see citing works
“In the context of repeated stimuli of consistent pitch, duration and intensity, a deviant tone will elicit a negative deflection of the ERP at fronto-central and central electrodes (Näätänen et al., 2007), with a latency dependent on the paradigm used.”
InfluentialFarley, B. J., Quirk, M. C., Doherty, J. J., & Christian, E. P. (2010) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2793-10.2010 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Fishman, Y. I., & Steinschneider, M. (2012) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2835-12.2012 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Modelling trial-by-trial changes in the mismatch negativity
Lieder, F., Daunizeau, J., Garrido, M. I., Friston, K. J., & Stephan, K. E. (2013) · PLoS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002911 · Cited by 168 · see citing works
Impaired MMN/P3a complex in first-episode psychosis: cognitive and psychosocial associations
Hermens, D. F., Ward, P. B., Hodge, M. A. R., Kaur, M., Naismith, S. L., & Hickie, I. B. (2010) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2010.03.019 · Cited by 170 · see citing works
Hierarchy of prediction errors for auditory events in human temporal and frontal cortex
Dürschmid, S., Edwards, E., Reichert, C., Dewar, C., Hinrichs, H., Heinze, H.-J., Kirsch, H. E., Dalal, S. S., Deouell, L. Y., & Knight, R. T. (2016) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1525030113 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Feinberg, T. E., & Mallatt, J. (2013) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00667 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Schwartz, S., Shinn-Cunningham, B., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2018) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.01.008 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Neural signatures of phonetic learning in adulthood: a magnetoencephalography study
Zhang, Y., Kuhl, P. K., Imada, T., Iverson, P., Pruitt, J., Stevens, E. B., Kawakatsu, M., Tohkura, Y., & Nemoto, I. (2009) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.01.028 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Chennu, S., Noreika, V., Gueorguiev, D., Shtyrov, Y., Bekinschtein, T. A., & Henson, R. (2016) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1125-16.2016 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Kenemans, J. L., & Kähkönen, S. (2011) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2010.157 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Tang, M. F., Smout, C. A., Arabzadeh, E., & Mattingley, J. B. (2018) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.33123 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
“By contrast, as predicted from previous work (Garrido et al., 2013; Näätänen et al., 2007; Saarinen et al., 1992), analysis of the N1 component showed that the unexpected stimulus evoked a significantly greater negativity than the expected stimulus, (t(14) = 5.75, p <.0001).”
InfluentialVan der Molen, M. J. W., Van der Molen, M. W., Ridderinkhof, K. R., Hamel, B. C. J., Curfs, L. M. G., & Ramakers, G. J. A. (2012) · Clinical Neurophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2011.08.023 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Early enhanced processing and delayed habituation to deviance sounds in autism spectrum disorder
Hudac, C. M., DesChamps, T. D., Arnett, A. B., Cairney, B. E., Ma, R., Webb, S. J., & Bernier, R. A. (2018) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2018.03.004 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
The right hemisphere fails to respond to temporal novelty in autism: evidence from an ERP study
Orekhova, E. V., Stroganova, T. A., Prokofiev, A. O., Nygren, G., Gillberg, C., & Elam, M. (2009) · Clinical Neurophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2008.12.034 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Advances in Electrophysiological Research
Kamarajan, C. (2015) · Alcohol Research: Current Reviews · doi:10.35946/arcr.v37.1.05 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Matsuzaki, J., Kuschner, E. S., Blaskey, L., Bloy, L., Kim, M., Ku, M., Edgar, J. C., Embick, D., & Roberts, T. P. L. (2019) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.2136 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Csukly, G., Stefanics, G., Komlósi, S., Czigler, I., & Czobor, P. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075444 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
A meta-analysis of mismatch negativity in children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorders
Cheng, C.-H., Chan, P.-Y. S., Hsieh, Y.-W., & Chen, K.-F. (2016) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2015.11.033 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Reorganisation of brain networks in frontotemporal dementia and progressive supranuclear palsy
Hughes, L. E., Ghosh, B. C. P., & Rowe, J. B. (2013) · NeuroImage: Clinical · doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2013.03.009 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Degeneracy and Redundancy in Active Inference
Sajid, N., Parr, T., Hope, T. M., Price, C. J., & Friston, K. J. (2020) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhaa148 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Impaired P1 Habituation and Mismatch Negativity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Ruiz-Martínez, F. J., Rodríguez-Martínez, E. I., Wilson, C. E., Yau, S., Saldaña, D., & Gómez, C. M. (2020) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04299-0 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Rudolph, E. D., Ells, E. M. L., Campbell, D. J., Abriel, S. C., Tibbo, P. G., Salisbury, D. F., & Fisher, D. J. (2015) · Schizophrenia Research · doi:10.1016/j.schres.2015.05.028 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Zhao, T. C., Boorom, O., Kuhl, P. K., & Gordon, R. (2021) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100949 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Sorted averaging—application to auditory event-related responses
Rahne, T., von Specht, H., & Mühler, R. (2008) · Journal of Neuroscience Methods · doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2008.04.006 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Jiang, S., Yan, C., Qiao, Z., Yao, H., Jiang, S., Qiu, X., Yang, X., Fang, D., Yang, Y., Zhang, L., et al. (2017) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2017.03.032 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Emotional context facilitates cortical prediction error responses
Vogel, B. O., Shen, C., & Neuhaus, A. H. (2015) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.22868 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
McCleery, A., Mathalon, D. H., Wynn, J. K., Roach, B. J., Hellemann, G. S., Marder, S. R., & Green, M. F. (2019) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291718004087 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Nicolas, J., King, B. R., Levesque, D., Lazzouni, L., Coffey, E., Swinnen, S., Doyon, J., Carrier, J., & Albouy, G. (2022) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.73930 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Dürschmid, S., Reichert, C., Kuhn, J., Freund, H., Hinrichs, H., & Heinze, H. (2020) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/ejn.13749 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Minks, E., Jurák, P., Chládek, J., Chrastina, J., Halámek, J., Shaw, D. J., & Bareš, M. (2014) · Journal of Neural Transmission · doi:10.1007/s00702-014-1221-3 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Dzafic, I., Larsen, K. M., Darke, H., Pertile, H., Carter, O., Sundram, S., & Garrido, M. I. (2021) · Schizophrenia Bulletin · doi:10.1093/schbul/sbaa188 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Electrophysiology of Schizophrenia
Winterer, G., & McCarley, R. W. (2010) · Schizophrenia · doi:10.1002/9781444327298.ch15 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Grisoni, L., Moseley, R. L., Motlagh, S., Kandia, D., Sener, N., Pulvermüller, F., Roepke, S., & Mohr, B. (2019) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2019.00395 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Gao, L., Chen, J., Gu, L., Shu, H., Wang, Z., Liu, D., Yan, Y., & Zhang, Z. (2018) · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnagi.2018.00256 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Hauke, D. J., Charlton, C. E., Schmidt, A., Griffiths, J., Woods, S. W., Ford, J. M., Srihari, V. H., Roth, V., Diaconescu, A. O., & Mathalon, D. H. (2022) · doi:10.1101/2022.12.20.22283712 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
The processing of mispredicted and unpredicted sensory inputs interact differently with attention
Hsu, Y.-F., Hämäläinen, J. A., & Waszak, F. (2018) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.01.034 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Brain oscillations and predictive processing.
Yordanova, J., Kolev, V., & Kirov, R. (2012) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00416 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Zhao, T. C., Llanos, F., Chandrasekaran, B., & Kuhl, P. K. (2022) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2022.941853 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Chen, P., Hsu, H., Chao, Y., Nouchi, R., Wang, P., & Cheng, C. (2021) · CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics · doi:10.1111/cns.13691 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Vaughn, D. A., Maggiora, M. B., Vaughn, K. J., Maggiora, C. J., Tavakoli, A.-V., Liang, W., Zava, D., Cohen, M. S., & Lenartowicz, A. (2021) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2020.147203 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Kim, B., Shin, J., Kim, Y., & Choi, J. H. (2020) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0230277 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Marais, A.-L., & Roche-Labarbe, N. (2025) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101519 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
The effect of deviance predictability on mismatch negativity in schizophrenia patients
Horacek, M., Kärgel, C., Scherbaum, N., & Müller, B. W. (2016) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2016.02.010 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Rethinking Predictive Processing
Furutachi, S., & Hofer, S. B. (2026) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-102124-031410 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Goble, G., Hennessy, V., Cheng, T.-H. Z., Rodda, A., Taulu, S., Gordon, R. L., & Zhao, T. C. (2026) · PLOS One · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0335596
“First documented using the Electro-encephalography (EEG), the mismatch negativity/response (MMN/R) is one of the most widely studied neural signatures that indexes neural sensitivity to sound change [36].”
- Authors
- Näätänen, R., Paavilainen, P., Rinne, T., & Alho, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Näätänen, R.
- Venue
- Clinical Neurophysiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2007-12
- Volume
- 118
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2544-2590
- ISSN
- 1388-2457 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1975764941
- Cited by
- 2,644
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 136 · 2025: 155 · 2024: 158 · 2023: 143 · 2022: 165 · 2021: 156 · 2020: 175 · 2019: 177 · 2018: 145 · 2017: 146 · 2016: 155 · 2015: 152 · 2014: 156 · 2013: 148 · 2012: 121
- FWCI
- 6.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Neurophysiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Hearing, Cochlea, Tinnitus, Genetics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Keywords
- mismatch negativity, central auditory processing, auditory cortex, attentional shift, semantic processing, grammatical processing
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Attention, Auditory Perception, Cerebral Cortex, Dominance, Cerebral, Evoked Potentials, Humans, Pitch Discrimination, Reaction Time, Speech Perception, Magnetoencephalography
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review