Evoked potential correlates of stimulus deviance during wakefulness and sleep in cat--animal model of mismatch negativity.

Auditory evoked potentials (EPs) elicited by standard (STs) and deviant tones (DTs) of different probabilities were studied in freely moving cats during wakefulness and sleep. A large double peaked negativity, so-called mismatch negativity (MMN), was evoked by the unattended low probability DTs. The EPs recorded from the AI and AII areas of the auditory cortex showed more dynamic changes than the vertex and association cortical responses. The amplitude of the MMN was inversely proportional to the probability of DTs. The latency of the MMN showed dependence both on the location of the recording site and on the probability of DTs. During slow wave sleep (SWS) the MMN of increased latency could be evoked only at the lowest probabilities. The cortical distribution of the MMN changed in the SWS.