Differential effects of gender on mismatch negativity to violations of simple and pattern acoustic regularities

• Published in: Brain and behavior Vol. 11; no. 8; pp. e2248 - n/a
• Main Authors: Toufan, Reyhane, Aghamolaei, Maryam, Ashayeri, Hasan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.08.2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: abstract regularities; Acoustics; Alzheimer's disease; Brain research; Dyslexia; Electrodes; Electroencephalography; Females; Gender; Males; Memory; mismatch negativity; Original Research; Schizophrenia; Sound; topography; Variance analysis; Violations; Netherlands
• ISSN: 2162-3279; 2162-3279
• DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2248

Introduction The effects of gender on the mismatch negativity (MMN) potential have been studied using simple frequency deviants. However, the effects of gender on MMN to violations of regularities have not yet been studied. Here, we addressed this issue and compared the effects of gender on simple and pattern frequency MMNs. Methods MMN response was recorded from 29 healthy young adults, 14 females (mean age = 26.20 ± 2.17) and 15 males (mean age = 27.57 ± 2.24), using 32 scalp electrodes during simple and pattern frequency oddball paradigms and the mean amplitude, peak latency, and scalp topography of MMN evoked by each paradigm were compared between the two genders. Results The peak latency of simple MMN was significantly longer in females (p < .05); however, its mean amplitude and topography were similar between the two genders (p > .05). There were no significant differences in peak latency, mean amplitude, and scalp topography of pattern MMN between the two genders (p > .05). Conclusions Based on the obtained results, gender differently affects simple and pattern MMN. These findings may provide preliminary evidence for distinct effects of gender on various types of MMN. In the first report of gender effects on MMN response to violations of simple and pattern frequency regularities, we found differential effects of gender on MMN evoked by these two types of deviants; while gender had some effects on MMN evoked by simple frequency deviants, the MMN elicited by violation of pattern regularities was similar between genders. These finding provide preliminary evidence for distinct effects of gender on various types of MMN.