Emotional MMN: Anxiety and heart rate correlate with the ERP signature for auditory change detection

Abstract

Objective: Previous work established the mismatch negativity (MMN) as a correlate of pre-attentive auditory change detection. The present study aimed at investigating the relationship between the MMN and emotional processes associated with the detection of change.

Methods: To this end, we assessed state anxiety with a questionnaire and subsequently recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) and heart rate while participants watched a silent movie and listened to a task-irrelevant auditory oddball sequence. The oddball sequence comprised meaningless syllables of which some were deviants spoken with an angry or neutral voice.

Results: The MMN to angry voice deviants was larger than that to neutral deviants and correlated positively with ensuing heart rate acceleration. Additionally, both the MMN and heart rate acceleration to angry voice deviants were increased with increasing state anxiety. A similar effect for neutral voice deviants was non-significant.

Conclusion: Taken together, these results suggest that the pre-attentive processing of threat, as reflected by the MMN, is linked to an activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Moreover, this link is more strongly activated in individuals with high state anxiety.

Significance: Thus, the MMN may be used as a marker for an individual's state dependent sensitivity to unattended, emotionally relevant change.