Event-related brain potentials to change in the frequency and temporal structure of sounds in typically developing 5–6-year-old children

• Published in: International journal of psychophysiology 2015-12, Vol.98 (3), p.413-425
• Main Authors: Ervast, Leena, Hämäläinen, Jarmo.A., Zachau, Swantje, Lohvansuu, Kaisa, Heinänen, Kaisu, Veijola, Mari, Heikkinen, Elisa, Suominen, Kalervo, Luotonen, Mirja, Lehtihalmes, Matti, Leppänen, Paavo H.T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Analysis of Variance; Auditory Perception - physiology; Auditory processing; Brain - physiology; Brain Mapping; Child; Child, Preschool; Contingent Negative Variation - physiology; EEG; Electroencephalography; Evoked Potentials, Auditory - physiology; Female; Humans; Late discriminative negativity (LDN); Male; Mismatch negativity (MMN); N250; Reaction Time - physiology; Sound; T-complex
• ISSN: 0167-8760; 1872-7697
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2015.08.007

The brain's ability to recognize different acoustic cues (e.g., frequency changes in rapid temporal succession) is important for speech perception and thus for successful language development. Here we report on distinct event-related potentials (ERPs) in 5–6-year-old children recorded in a passive oddball paradigm to repeated tone pair stimuli with a frequency change in the second tone in the pair, replicating earlier findings. An occasional insertion of a third tone within the tone pair generated a more merged pattern, which has not been reported previously in 5–6-year-old children. Both types of deviations elicited pre-attentive discriminative mismatch negativity (MMN) and late discriminative negativity (LDN) responses. Temporal principal component analysis (tPCA) showed a similar topographical pattern with fronto-central negativity for MMN and LDN. We also found a previously unreported discriminative response complex (P340–N440) at the temporal electrode sites at about 140ms and 240ms after the frequency deviance, which we suggest reflects a discriminative processing of frequency change. The P340 response was positive with a clear radial distribution preceding the fronto-central frequency MMN by about 30ms. The results indicate that 5–6-year-old children can detect frequency change and the occasional insertion of an additional tone in sound pairs as reflected by MMN and LDN, even with quite short within-stimulus intervals (150ms and 50ms). Furthermore, MMN for these changes is preceded by another response to deviancy, temporal P340, which seems to reflect a parallel but earlier discriminatory process. •Preschool-aged children detect sound frequency and temporal changes evident in ERPs.•Previously unreported discriminative P340–N440 complex at temporal channels•P340–N440 complex has radial distribution and precedes fronto-central MMN by 30ms.•P340–N440 reacts to stimulus change.•P340–N440 is a separate component from MMN.