Charting development of ERP components on face-categorization: Results from a large longitudinal sample of infants

• Published in: Developmental cognitive neuroscience 2020-10, Vol.45, p.100840-100840, Article 100840
• Main Authors: Di Lorenzo, Renata, van den Boomen, Carlijn, Kemner, Chantal, Junge, Caroline
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electroencephalography - methods; ERPs; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Face - physiology; Face categorization; Female; Humans; Infant; Infants; Longitudinal; Longitudinal Studies; Male; N290; Original Research
• ISSN: 1878-9293; 1878-9307
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100840

•We report longitudinal ERP data of 80 infants in a face-discrimination task.•P1, N290, Nc are all sensitive to faces in five-month-olds.•P1, N290, Nc show equal face-categorization in infants tested longitudinally.•N290 shows less variation in face-categorization trajectories than P1 or Nc.•Visual ERPs increase in amplitude over infancy, but this is not face-specific. From infancy onwards, EEG is widely used to measure face-categorization, i.e. differential brain activity to faces versus non-face stimuli. Four ERP components likely signal infants’ face-sensitivity but reflect different underlying mechanisms: the P1, N290, P400, Nc. We test whether these components reveal similar developmental patterns from early to late infancy, using a longitudinal dataset of 80 infants tested at 5 and 10 months. The P1, N290, and the Nc show face-categorization already in 5-months-olds, a pattern which did not change over time. Development is visible as increased amplitudes in all components, but similar for face and non-face stimuli. By using Markov models, we illustrate that there are differences in the distribution of individual trajectories of face-categorization components from 5 to 10 months. Whereas individual trajectories appear more varied for the Nc and the P1, the N290 reveals a more consistent pattern: a larger proportion of 5-month-olds shows the dominant group response; a larger proportion of 10-month-olds remains in this group, and larger proportions of the alternative trajectories from 5- to 10-month-olds move towards the dominant group. This is vital information when one wants to examine individual differences in infant ERPs related to face-categorization.