Potencia de disparidad (mismatch negativity): características y aplicaciones

Abstract

The Mismatch Negativity (MMN) is an endogenous auditory eventrelated potential (ERP) licited by low-probability (deviant) auditory stimuli, randomly replacing repetitive stimuli in a series of sounds, while the subject is not actively attending to the auditory sequence. Unlike other cognitive components of rhe ERPs, such as the P300, the main features of MMN are its independence of subjects' attention -being of special interest to study the auditory and cerebral pathology in subjects unable or unwilling to cooperate, and the well-establisehd localization of its neural generators in the temporal and frontal cortex. Several suggestions in order to standardize MMN recordings are proposed in the text. Besides this, the most relevant aspects in MMN theory, such as its irdependence of attention, its endogeneity, its implication in sensory memory, iits functional meaning, and the localization of its cerebral sources, are reviewed. Finally, the most promising clinical applications for the next years are discussed.