The MMN is a derivative of the auditory N100 response.

Abstract

We argue that the mismatch negativity (MMN), elicited by rare auditory events, is generated by the same neural mechanisms as the N100, elicited by any audible stimulus. To date, the MMN has been considered to be a unique index of auditory sensory memory and a component which is functionally and spatially separate from the N100 response because: (i) MMN and N100 appear to have different generator locations; (ii) the MMN occurs too late to be an N100; (iii) the MMN, as opposed to the N100, is elicited by stimulus omissions. By utilizing neural modeling and EEG/MEG results, we show that the above reasoning relies on unwarranted assumptions and propose that the MMN is, essentially, an amplitude- and latency-modulated N100 response. This study offers a physiologically constrained and theoretically plausible framework whereby brain dynamics in terms of stimulus feature maps and their reorganization may be used to describe various memory- and learning-related effects of human auditory cognition.