Mismatch negativity (MMN) stands at the crossroads between explicit and implicit emotional processing.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Psychophysiology

Background:

• The amygdala is crucial for processing emotional faces and salience.
• Mismatch negativity (MMN) indexes preattentive salience detection in auditory processing.
• The relationship between amygdala reactivity and MMN in emotional processing is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between amygdala reactivity to emotional faces and MMN responses to emotional vocalizations.
• To examine how explicit and implicit perception of fear influences this relationship.
• To explore the role of trait anxiety in these processes.

Main Methods:

• Combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related potential (ERP) recordings.
• Examined amygdala reactivity to explicit and implicit fearful/angry faces.
• Recorded MMN to fearfully/angrily spoken syllables in participants with varying trait anxiety.

Main Results:

• Fearful MMN amplitude correlated positively with left amygdala reactivity to explicit fear perception.
• Fearful MMN amplitude correlated negatively with right amygdala reactivity to implicit fear perception.
• Fearful MMN predicted trait anxiety and explicit fear processing, with mediation by implicit fear processing.

Conclusions:

• Amygdala reactivity to explicit and implicit threatening faces shows opposing associations with emotional MMN.
• MMN reflects not only preattentive salience detection but also integrates explicit and implicit emotional perception.
• Findings elucidate the complex interplay between early sensory processing and higher-level emotional awareness.