MEG Signatures of Differences in Auditory Cortex Responses to Trigger versus Non-Trigger Sounds in Misophonia

Abstract

Misophonia is characterized by intense emotional and physiological reactions to specific trigger sounds that may vary across individuals. Despite greater recognition and increased research, the neural mechanisms underlying misophonia are still poorly understood. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) with millisecond temporal resolution, we examined auditory cortex responses to trigger versus non-trigger sounds in 23 individuals (ages 14 - 32 years) that met criteria for misophonia on a screening assessment. We found that in the right hemisphere, trigger sounds elicited significantly smaller evoked responses, lower power of evoked alpha-band oscillations, and stronger alpha-gamma cross-frequency phase-amplitude coupling, compared to non-trigger sounds. We also found that evoked responses and power correlated with behaviorally assessed extent of misophonia symptoms. These findings support the idea that misophonia is characterized at least in part by altered neurophysiological processing of auditory trigger stimuli early in auditory cortex hierarchy. Our results provide novel insight into the neural basis of misophonia, and underscore the importance of examining brain activity even at the earliest levels of the cortical hierarchy, especially with high spatio-temporal resolution.

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Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{tan2026signatures,
  title = {{MEG Signatures of Differences in Auditory Cortex Responses to Trigger versus Non-Trigger Sounds in Misophonia}},
  author = {J. Tan and S. Osorio and G. Levine and Z. Nayal and S. P. Ahlfors and J. G. Arenberg and N. Mercaldo and J. P. Ahveninen and T. Raij and T. Kenet},
  howpublished = {bioRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.64898/2026.09.14.751161},
  url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.14.751161v1},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - MEG Signatures of Differences in Auditory Cortex Responses to Trigger versus Non-Trigger Sounds in Misophonia
AU  - J. Tan
AU  - S. Osorio
AU  - G. Levine
AU  - Z. Nayal
AU  - S. P. Ahlfors
AU  - J. G. Arenberg
AU  - N. Mercaldo
AU  - J. P. Ahveninen
AU  - T. Raij
AU  - T. Kenet
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/14
PB  - bioRxiv
DO  - 10.64898/2026.09.14.751161
UR  - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.14.751161v1
AB  - Misophonia is characterized by intense emotional and physiological reactions to specific trigger sounds that may vary across individuals. Despite greater recognition and increased research, the neural mechanisms underlying misophonia are still poorly understood. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) with millisecond temporal resolution, we examined auditory cortex responses to trigger versus non-trigger sounds in 23 individuals (ages 14 - 32 years) that met criteria for misophonia on a screening assessment. We found that in the right hemisphere, trigger sounds elicited significantly smaller evoked responses, lower power of evoked alpha-band oscillations, and stronger alpha-gamma cross-frequency phase-amplitude coupling, compared to non-trigger sounds. We also found that evoked responses and power correlated with behaviorally assessed extent of misophonia symptoms. These findings support the idea that misophonia is characterized at least in part by altered neurophysiological processing of auditory trigger stimuli early in auditory cortex hierarchy. Our results provide novel insight into the neural basis of misophonia, and underscore the importance of examining brain activity even at the earliest levels of the cortical hierarchy, especially with high spatio-temporal resolution.
ER  -

Abstract

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