Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 3, 2026

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
Developmental course of auditory processing interactions: Garner interference and Simon interference
S Jerger1, D A Pearson, M J Spence
1University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson 75083-0688, USA.
Abstract:
Previous research suggests that with increasing age children become more efficient in inhibiting conflicting responses and in resisting interference from irrelevant information. We assessed the abilities of 100 children (ages 3-16 years) and 20 adults to resist interference during the processing of 2 auditory dimensions of speech, namely the speaker's gender and spatial location. The degree of interference from irrelevant variability in either dimension did not vary with age. Apparently, young children do not have more difficulty in resisting interference when the nontarget and the target are both perceptual attributes. We also assessed the participants' abilities to inhibit conflicting task-irrelevant information from spatial location and to resist interference from spatial variability in the context of conflict. In the presence of conflicting task-irrelevant information, both interference effects declined significantly with age. Developmental change in auditory processing seems to vary as a function of (1) the nature of the target-nontarget combination and (2) the presence/absence of conflicting task-irrelevant information.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Interference and Superposition of Waves
Interference occurs in mechanical waves, such as sound waves, waves on a string, and surface water waves. Mechanical waves correspond to the physical displacement of particles. Hence,...
Sound Waves: Interference
Interference: Path Lengths
Two special sources may be considered when they are in phase. This can be easily achieved by feeding the two sources from the same source. An example would be synchronizing the two speakers by feeding them with the same source, such as the sound waves produced by a tuning fork. This setup ensures that the two sources have the same frequency and are...
Auditory Pathway
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking the...
Auditory Perception
Interference and Decay
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...

