Single-trial analyses of developmental trends in infant auditory event- related potentials

Abstract

Previous studies have reported that auditory event-related potential (ERP) peak latencies show a general decrease during early infant development whereas peak amplitudes show a general, though not monotonic, increase. In this study, auditory ERPs were recorded longitudinally to tone and click stimuli from 24 infants at 5, 8, 11, 14, and 17 weeks of age from frontal and central electrodes. In addition to the traditional measures of peak amplitude and latency in the average ERPs for peaks P2, N2, and P3, latency variability and single-trial amplitude were assessed for P2 and N2. Results indicate significant developmental trends in average amplitude, average latency, latency variability, and single-trial amplitude. These results are discussed with regard to differences found between tone and click ERPs and to the additional contributions to both description and theory that single-trial analyses can make.