The MMN For Basic Stimulus Features
MMN is evoked by an infrequently presented stimulus ("deviant"), differing from the frequently-occurring stimuli ("standards") in one or several physical parameters like duration, intensity, or frequency (Näätänen, 1992). In addition, it is generated by a change in spectrally complex stimuli like phonemes, in synthesised instrumental tones, or in the spectral component of tone timbre. Also the temporal order reversals elicit an MMN when successive sound elements differ either in frequency, intensity, or duration. The MMN is not elicited by stimuli with deviant stimulus parameters when they are presented without the intervening standards. Thus, the MMN has been suggested to reflect change detection when a memory trace representing the constant standard stimulus and the neural code of the stimulus with deviant parameter(s) are discrepant.
Read more about this topic: Mismatch Negativity
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