Meta-analysis of mismatch negativity to simple versus complex deviants in schizophrenia

Abstract

Mismatch negativity (MMN) deficits in schizophrenia (SCZ) have been studied extensively since the early 1990s, with the vast majority of studies using simple auditory oddball task deviants that vary in a single acoustic dimension such as pitch or duration. There has been a growing interest in using more complex deviants that violate more abstract rules to probe higher order cognitive deficits. It is still unclear how sensory processing deficits compare to and contribute to higher order cognitive dysfunction, which can be investigated with later attention-dependent auditory event-related potential (ERP) components such as a subcomponent of P300, P3b. In this meta-analysis, we compared MMN deficits in SCZ using simple deviants to more complex deviants. We also pooled studies that measured MMN and P3b in the same study sample and examined the relationship between MMN and P3b deficits within study samples. Our analysis reveals that, to date, studies using simple deviants demonstrate larger deficits than those using complex deviants, with effect sizes in the range of moderate to large. The difference in effect sizes between deviant types was reduced significantly when accounting for magnitude of MMN measured in healthy controls. P3b deficits, while large, were only modestly greater than MMN deficits (d=0.21). Taken together, our findings suggest that MMN to simple deviants may still be optimal as a biomarker for SCZ and that sensory processing dysfunction contributes significantly to MMN deficit and disease pathophysiology.

Ketamine Affects Prediction Errors about Statistical Regularities: A Computational Single-Trial Analysis of the Mismatch Negativity

“…The auditory mismatch negativity (MMN), an electrophysiological response to rule violations in auditory input streams, has long served as an empirical demonstration that the brain learns the statistical structure of its environment and predicts future sensory inputs (1)(2)(3). It plays an important role in psychiatric research, as it fulfils several criteria for a biomarker of schizophrenia (4,5). Most importantly, a reduction in MMN amplitude is one of the most robust electrophysiological abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia (4-7).…”

Aberrant connectivity in auditory precision encoding in schizophrenia spectrum disorder and across the continuum of psychotic-like experiences

“…While reduced MMN in schizophrenia is very robust for duration oddballs, it is not the case for frequency deviants, as employed here. Indeed the effect size for MMN deficits in schizophrenia to frequency deviants are less than effect sizes for duration deviants 41 . In addition, the paradigm used in the present study is stochastic, meaning that it is not a sequence-based rule typically seen in auditory oddball paradigms.…”

“…In addition, the paradigm used in the present study is stochastic, meaning that it is not a sequence-based rule typically seen in auditory oddball paradigms. A recent meta-analysis suggested that effect sizes for MMN deficits in schizophrenia are reduced in auditory oddball paradigms with a more complex deviant type or pattern rule, as compared to standard oddball paradigms, where no complex rules are present 41 . Both the use of frequency (instead of duration) oddballs and the complexity of the paradigm might explain the absence of the typically observed MMN reductions in the schizophrenia spectrum group.…”

Development of a sensory and perceptual assessment test for psychosis and schizophrenia

“…Although the evidence that sensory processes are altered in schizophrenic patients is widely accepted, the exact nature and impact of these alterations are not fully understood. Studies on size perception (Davis, et al, 1967), perceptual organization (Silverstein, et al, 2011), illusions (King, et al, 2017), contrast sensitivity and spatial frequency (Flevaris, et al, 2014;Graham and Meng, 2011;Green, et al, 2008;Shoshina, et al, 2015;Silverstein, et al, 2017), face perception and recognition (Kim, et al, 2015;McBrain, et al, 2010;Silverstein, et al, 2014;Vakhrusheva, et al, 2014), visual integration (Postmes, et al, 2014;Silverstein, et al, 2009;Silverstein, et al, 2012;Silverstein, et al, 2015), visual search (Chen, 2011;Dias, et al, 2013), mismatch negativity or odd ball paradigm (Avissar, et al, 2018;Hamilton, et al, 2019) among others, have all addressed issues related to sensory processes in schizophrenia.…”