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Maturation of the auditory change detection response in infants: a longitudinal ERP study
Elena Kushnerenko1, Rita Ceponiene, Polina Balan
1Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Helen@cbru.helsinki.fi
Insights
Mismatch negativity (MMN), an auditory brain response, shows stable group trends but individual variability in infants. This variability may stem from an attention-orienting response (P3a) masking the MMN in some infants.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Auditory Perception
Background:
- Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an auditory event-related potential (ERP) reflecting automatic change detection.
- Investigating MMN development in infants is crucial for understanding early auditory processing and cognitive maturation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the developmental trajectory of pitch change detection, indexed by MMN, in infants from birth to 12 months.
- To identify factors contributing to variability in MMN responses during early development.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study tracking MMN in the same infants from birth to 12 months.
- Analysis of MMN latency and amplitude across different age points.
- An additional experiment with newborns and 2-year-olds using novel sounds to identify a positive component.
Main Results:
- MMN was present in approximately 75% of infants at each age, with stable group-level latency and amplitude.
- Significant individual variability in MMN was observed across ages within the same subjects.
- A positive component, potentially an infant P3a, masked MMN in some 3- to 9-month-olds, correlating with attention orienting.
Conclusions:
- Infant MMN development shows stable group trends but considerable individual variability.
- The P3a response, indexing attention orienting, may influence MMN measurement in infants.
- Variability in MMN may be partly explained by the interplay between automatic change detection and attentional processes.
Abstract:
Mismatch negativity (MMN) is a negative component of auditory event-related potential (ERP), reflecting the brain's automatic change detection process. In the present study we investigated the development of the pitch change detection, as indexed by the MMN, in the same infants from birth until 12 months of age. The MMN was identified in approximately 75% of infants at each age, being relatively stable in latency and amplitude at the group level across the ages studied. However, within the same subjects the MMN substantially varied from age to age. The inspection of individual data revealed a possible source of this variability: in a portion of 3- to 9-month-old infants, a large-amplitude positive component commenced at the latency of the MMN and thus might have masked it. The results of the additional experiment, employing distracting novel sounds in 2-year-old infants and newborns, suggested that the observed positive component could represent an infant analogue of the adult P3a response, indexing an involuntary orienting of attention. Therefore, the variability from age to age might be, at least partially, caused by the differences in degree of infants' orienting, resulting in the reduction of the scalp recorded mismatch negativity in recordings when the orienting P3a positivity was elicited.