Behavioral and event‐related potential distraction effects with regularly occurring auditory deviants
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Abstract When auditory stimulation contains infrequent task‐irrelevant changes (deviants), behavioral responses to task‐relevant aspects of the stimulation are prolonged. Event‐related brain potentials (ERPs) show that deviants elicit mismatch negativity (MMN), P3a, and reorienting negativity (RON). Here, we examine whether distraction effects can also be elicited within fixed auditory sequences with deviant probabilities of 0.25, 0.33, and 0.5. Deviants varied either in pitch, loudness, or sound source location. In all conditions MMN and P3a were elicited, suggesting that an automatic detection of and an attentional allocation to the change occurred. With relative frequencies of 25% and 33%, deviants also yielded a RT prolongation and a RON, suggesting reorientation to the relevant task. Our study demonstrates the ability to detect frequent and predictable changes automatically and shows behavioral effects in two conditions.Keywords:
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Negativity effect
Background Deficits in automatic sensory discrimination, as indexed by a reduction in the mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a event-related potential amplitudes, are well documented in chronic schizophrenia. However, MMN and P3a have not been sufficiently studied early in the course of psychotic illness. The present study aimed to investigate MMN, P3a and reorienting negativity (RON) across the course of schizophrenia. Method MMN, P3a, and RON were assessed in 118 subjects across four groups: (1) individuals at risk for psychosis ( n =26); (2) recent-onset patients ( n =31); (3) chronic patients ( n =33); and (4) normal controls ( n =28) using a duration-deviant auditory oddball paradigm. Results Frontocentral deficits in MMN and P3a were present in all patient groups. The at-risk group's MMN and P3a amplitudes were intermediate to those of the control and recent-onset groups. The recent-onset and chronic patients, but not the at-risk subjects, showed significant RON amplitude reductions, relative to the control group. Associations between MMN, P3a, RON and psychosocial functioning were present in the chronic patients. In the at-risk subjects, P3a and RON deficits were significantly associated with higher levels of negative symptoms. Conclusions Abnormalities in the automatic processes of sensory discrimination, orienting and reorienting of attention are evident in the early phases of schizophrenia and raise the possibility of progressive worsening across stages of the illness. The finding that MMN and P3a, but not RON, were reduced before psychosis onset supports the continued examination of these components as potential early biomarkers of schizophrenia.
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Deficits in automatic sensory discrimination, as indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a, are well documented in schizophrenia patients and could underlie deficits in more complex cognitive operations, as well as clinical symptoms and real-life functioning. Although there is ample evidence to suggest that MMN is impaired in chronic schizophrenia, its reduction has not been as robust in the early stages of the disease. Moreover, MMN has not been sufficiently researched in subjects at risk for schizophrenia. The primary aim of the present study was to investigate the early stages of auditory information processing in recent-onset schizophrenia and the putative prodrome by examining the amplitude and topography of MMN and P3a. The secondary aim was to explore the relationships of MMN and P3a deficits to the severity of clinical symptoms and social functioning impairment. We assessed 26 at-risk individuals, 28 recent-onset schizophrenia patients, and 31 age-matched healthy comparison subjects on a duration-deviant MMN paradigm as well as a battery of clinical and social functioning measures. Repeated measures analyses of variance revealed large effect size MMN amplitude reductions in recent-onset patients and modest effect size MMN reductions in at-risk individuals. Additionally, both patient groups had significant P3a amplitude reductions relative to the healthy comparison group. As expected, there were no significant group differences in MMN and P3a topographic distributions. MMN was found to be independent of clinical symptomatology, whereas reduced P3a correlated with more severe negative symptoms in the at-risk group. Contrary to predictions, smaller MMN and P3a activity was associated with better social and family functioning within the patient groups, unlike the inverse association in chronic schizophrenia patients. In summary, our findings point to deviance detection abnormalities in subjects identified as putatively prodromal for schizophrenia as well as those with manifest schizophrenia. Those persons may incorrectly process auditory input or underdetect changes in their acoustic environment, failing to notice stimuli that are usually salient to most people. MMN and P3a exhibit promise as trait markers for schizophrenia as they appear to be deficient before the onset of full-blown psychosis as well as during the first two years of the illness
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Abstract Background Deficient information processing in ADHD theoretically results in sensory overload and may underlie the symptoms of the disorder. Mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a amplitude reflect an individual's detection and subsequent change in attention to stimulus change in their environment. Our primary aim was to explore MMN and P3a amplitude in adult ADHD patients and to examine the effects of methylphenidate (MPH) on these measures. Methods Forty initially psychostimulant-naïve, adult ADHD patients without comorbid ASD and 42 matched healthy controls (HC) were assessed with an MMN paradigm at baseline. Both groups were retested after 6 weeks, in which patients were treated with MPH. Results Neither significant group differences in MMN nor P3a amplitude were found at baseline. Although 6-week MPH treatment significantly reduced symptomatology and improved daily functioning of the patients, it did not significantly affect MMN amplitude; however, it did significantly reduce P3a amplitude compared to the HC. Furthermore, more severe ADHD symptoms were significantly associated with larger MMN amplitudes in the patients, both at baseline and follow-up. Conclusion We found no evidence for early information processing deficits in patients with ADHD, as measured with MMN and P3a amplitude. Six-week treatment with MPH decreased P3a but not MMN amplitude, although more severe ADHD-symptoms were associated with larger MMN amplitudes in the patients. Given that P3a amplitude represents an important attentional process and that glutamate has been linked to both ADHD and MMN amplitude, future research should investigate augmenting MPH treatment of less responsive adults with ADHD with glutamatergic antagonists.
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