Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies
Published on: May 9, 2019
Deviant matters: duration, frequency, and intensity deviants reveal different patterns of mismatch negativity
Juanita Todd1, Patricia T Michie, Ulrich Schall
1School of Psychology, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia. Juanita.Todd@newcastle.edu.au
Background:
A reduction in the size of the auditory event-related potential component known as mismatch negativity (MMN) is a consistent finding in schizophrenia. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that sound intensity and duration might be more sensitive to MMN reduction early in the development of schizophrenia because of the computational complexity in extracting these two sound dimensions.
Methods:
The MMN elicited to sounds deviating in duration, frequency, or intensity was measured in participants with a short (n = 14, mean 2.6 years) and longer length of illness (n = 29, mean 18.9 years) relative to healthy age-matched control subjects.
Results:
For participants early in the illness, a clear reduction was evident in MMN to duration and intensity but not frequency deviants. A different pattern was observed in patients with a longer length of illness--that is, a reduction in frequency and in duration to a lesser degree but not intensity MMN.
Conclusions:
The results indicate a pronounced age-related decline in duration and intensity MMN in control subjects that might reduce the sensitivity of these indices in schizophrenia when measured later in the course of the illness. The MMN elicited to changes in different sound properties provides potentially complementary information on the onset and progression of neuropathological changes that underlie the reduction in MMN in schizophrenia.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Negative and Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Negative Symptoms
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia manifest as deficits in normal emotional and behavioral functioning, profoundly impacting daily life. Individuals with schizophrenia often display a flat affect, characterized by a near-total absence of emotional expression,...
Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Hallucinations and Delusions
Thought Disorders
Disorganized and unusual thought processes mark thought disorders in schizophrenia. One key feature is disorganized speech, where an individual's conversation includes loosely...
Psychological and Sociocultural Causes of Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Introduction to Psychological Disorders
Deviant Behavior
Deviance in behavior refers to actions or thought patterns that significantly diverge from societal norms or...
Biological Causes of Schizophrenia
Genetic Factors in Schizophrenia
The genetic basis of schizophrenia is strongly supported by family and twin studies.

