The visual mismatch negativity (vMMN): Toward the optimal paradigm

• An optimal multi-feature-vMMN paradigm was investigated.
• The vMMNs in the optimal paradigm were equal to those in the oddball paradigm.
• The optimal paradigm is time saving especially in clinical research.

In the present article, we tested an optimal vMMN paradigm allowing one to obtain vMMNs for several visual attributes in a short time. vMMN responses to changes in color, duration, orientation, shape, and size were compared between the traditional ‘oddball’ paradigm (a single type of visual change in each sequence) and the optimal paradigm in which all the 5 types of changes appeared within the same sequence. The vMMNs obtained in the optimal paradigm were equal or larger in amplitude to those in the traditional vMMN paradigm. The optimal paradigm can provide 5 different vMMNs in the same time in which usually only one MMN is obtained. This short objective measure could putatively be used as an index for visual cognition function especially in clinical research.