Intact mismatch negativity responses in clinical high-risk for psychosis and first-episode psychosis: evidence from source-reconstructed event-related fields and time-frequency data

Abstract

Background: To examine whether Mismatch Negativity (MMN) Responses are impaired in participants at clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR-P) and first episode psychosis (FEP) patients and whether MMN-deficits predict clinical outcomes in CHR-Ps. Methods: Magnetoencephalography (MEG) data were collected during a duration-deviant MMN-paradigm for a group of 116 CHR-P participants, 33 FEP patients, (15 antipsychotic-naïve), a psychosis-risk-negative group (CHR-N: n=38) with substance abuse and affective disorder and 49 healthy controls (HC). Analysis of group differences of source-reconstructed event-related fields as well as time-frequency and inter-trial-phase-coherence (ITPC) focused on bilateral Heschl’s gyri and superior temporal gyri. Results: Significant MMNm responses were found across participants in bilateral Heschl’s gyrus and superior temporal gyri. However, MMN-amplitude as well as time-frequency and ITPC-responses were intact in CHR-P and FEP-patients relative to HC. Furthermore, MMN-deficits were not related to persistent attenuated psychotic symptoms nor transitions to psychosis in CHR-Ps. Conclusions: Our data suggest that MMNm responses in MEG-data are not impaired in early-stage psychosis and may not predict clinical outcomes in CHR-P participants.