title: A systematic review of the mismatch negativity as an index for auditory sensory memory: From basic research to clinical and developmental perspectives.
abstract: Auditory sensory memory is an important ability for successful language acquisition and processing. The mismatch negativity (MMN) in response to auditory stimuli has been proposed as an objective tool to measure the existence of auditory sensory memory traces. By increasing interstimulus intervals, attenuation of MMN peak amplitude and increased MMN peak latency have been suggested to reflect duration and decay of sensory memory traces. The aim of the present study is to conduct a systematic review of studies investigating sensory memory duration with MMN. Searches of electronic databases yielded 743 articles. Of these, 37 studies met final eligibility criteria. Results point to maturational changes in the time span of auditory sensory memory from birth on with a peak in young adulthood, as well as to a decrease of sensory memory duration in healthy aging. Furthermore, this review suggests that sensory memory decline is related to diverse neurological, psychiatric, and pediatric diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, alcohol abuse, schizophrenia, and language disorders. This review underlines that the MMN provides a unique window to the cognitive processes of auditory sensory memory. However, further studies combining electrophysiological and behavioral data, and further studies in clinical populations are needed, also on individual levels, to validate the MMN as a clinical tool for the assessment of sensory memory duration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bartha-Doering
authors.affiliation: Department of Phoniatry and Pedaudiology, University Hospital of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Deuster
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.affiliation: Department of Phoniatry and Pedaudiology, University Hospital of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.
authors.forename: Antoinette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: am Zehnhoff-Dinnesen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.|Department of Otolaryngology and the Institute of Phoniatry and Pedaudiology, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dobel
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003265:Contingent Negative Variation / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Cognition; EEG; Language/speech; Memory