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Cited by 56Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ResearchTraumatic Brain Injury ResearchPsychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research

Reduced mismatch negativity in posttraumatic stress disorder: a compensatory mechanism for chronic hyperarousal?

Menning, Hans, Renz, Annika, Seifert, Jan, Maercker, Andreas·2008·International Journal of Psychophysiology
DOI 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2007.12.003
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Abstract

Mismatch Negativity (MMN) is yet poorly understood in the context of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD, e.g. [Morgan 3rd, C.A., Grillon, C., 1999. Abnormal mismatch negativity in women with sexual assault-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Biol. Psychiatry 45, 827-832.]). PTSD symptoms like hyperarousal, emotional pressure and avoidance may interfere with pre-attentive sensory processing. We tested this in an optimized MMN design [Näätänen, R., Pakarinen, S., Rinne, T., Takegata, R. (2004) The mismatch negativity (MMN): towards the optimal paradigm. Clin. Neurophysiol. 115: 140-144.] with PTSD victims and a control group without PTSD. A group of PTSD subjects was compared with gender and age-matched, healthy comparison subjects without PTSD. A "memory trace" was elicited by frequently presented "standard" auditory stimuli (50% occurrence) of 1 kHz, 75 ms duration, intermittently with 8 rare "deviants", which differed in frequency (higher/lower), intensity (louder/softer), duration (shorter), direction (left/right) or by the presence of a gap in the sound. During presentation of tones a silent film was shown. Psychometric data were collected by SCID, BSI, Attentiveness Inventory, Edinburgh Handedness Questionnaire, and the PTSD Screening Scale by Breslau et al. [Breslau, N., Peterson, E.L., Kessler, R.C., Schultz, L.R. (1999) Short screening scale for DSM-IV posttraumatic stress disorder. Am. J. Psychiatry 156: 908-911.]. Group comparisons of the MMN were performed for left/right-frontal/temporal, and for midline electrode sites. A good differentiation of both groups was found in psychometric and electrophysiological data. The PTSD group revealed on most BSI scales enhanced values of psychic aberration. The amplitude of the MMN was significantly reduced in the PTSD compared to non-PTSD subjects. MMN was significantly correlated with the total PTSD score. The data suggest a reduction in pre-attentive auditory sensory memory in PTSD due to specific symptom variables such as hyperarousal, sleeplessness, impaired concentration and a general enhanced excitation of the nervous system. This protective inhibition is thought to be a fine-tuning process in PTSD in order to prevent arousal overload.

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  • Individuals with PTSD may exhibit altered MMN due to specific symptoms of the disorder (hyperarousal, insomnia, and impaired concentration).

    “studies suggesting that individuals with PTSD may exhibit altered MMN due to the specific symptoms of the disorder (e.g., hyperarousal, insomnia, and impaired concentration) (Ge et al., 2011; Menning et al., 2008; Morgan and Grillon, 1999).”

    From Predictive coding in neuropsychiatric disorders: a systematic transdiagnostic review. (2025) · cites this paper as Menning et al., 2008

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Authors
Menning, H., Renz, A., Seifert, J., & Maercker, A.
Affiliations
  • University of Zurich (CH)
  • Universität Trier (DE)
  • User Interface Design (Germany) (DE)
Corresponding author
Menning, Hans
ORCID
Seifert, Jan
Venue
International Journal of Psychophysiology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-04
Volume
68
Issue
1
Pages
27-34
ISSN
0167-8760 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2007.12.003
OpenAlex
W2022503096
Cited by
56
References
73
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 5
FWCI
4.82
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • International Journal of Psychophysiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Universität Trier
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Traumatic Brain Injury Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
Keywords
post-traumatic stress disorder, mismatch negativity, hyperarousal, auditory sensory memory, pre-attentive auditory processing, compensatory mechanisms, auditory deviance detection, insomnia, impaired concentration, PTSD symptom severity, auditory event-related potentials, scalp topography, sex differences, handedness
MeSH terms
Acoustic Stimulation, Adaptation, Physiological, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Arousal, Attention, Auditory Perception, Contingent Negative Variation, Discrimination, Psychological, Evoked Potentials, Female, Humans, Male, Neural Inhibition, Psychometrics, Reaction Time, Reference Values, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Case-Control Studies, Matched-Pair Analysis

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