Auditory mismatch negativity in adolescents with dissociative identity disorder

Abstract

Objective: : Dissociative identity disorder (DID) has connections with childhood trauma, and there might be an attentional deterioration in DID adolescents.  The mismatch negativity (MMN) of the event-related potentials might provide an objective marker of pre-attention (passive or involuntary attention) deficit in these younger patients.  Methods: We therefore trialed MMN in 10 adolescents with DID and 11 age and gender matched healthy volunteers using an auditory frequency deviance paradigm at three midline scalp electrodes.  Their anxiety and depression levels were measured using the self-rating anxiety and depression scales respectively.  Results: The MMN amplitudes at the three electrode sites and N1 amplitudes to deviant stimulus at two sites were higher in patients, both anxiety and depression levels were also more elevated in patients, but the cerebral potentials were not correlated with either anxiety or depression level.  Conclusions: The higher MMN amplitudes in DID indicate more enhanced accuracy in discriminating stimulus change, which might be related to an atypical lack of inhibition on the irrelevant stimuli or increased cortical neuronal activity in the disorder