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Behavioral Assessment of Hearing in 2 to 4 Year-old Children: A Two-interval, Observer-based Procedure Using Conditioned Play-based Responses
Published on: January 23, 2017
Development of infant mismatch responses to auditory pattern changes between 2 and 4 months old
Chao He1, Lisa Hotson, Laurel J Trainor
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
The European Journal of Neuroscience
|February 10, 2009
Summary
Mismatch negativity (MMN) in infants shows developmental changes. Four-month-olds exhibit robust MMN to pattern changes, indicating mature auditory change detection, unlike two-month-olds.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- The auditory cortex processes complex sound patterns for speech and music.
- Infant auditory processing shows developmental changes, with younger infants exhibiting different electrophysiological responses to sound changes compared to older infants and adults.
- Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an automatic auditory change-detection response observed in adults, reflecting neural processing of auditory patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the developmental trajectory of mismatch negativity (MMN) in infants.
- To determine the age at which infants develop an MMN response to changes in auditory patterns.
- To compare the MMN response in 2- and 4-month-old infants to a change in a repeating tone pattern.
Main Methods:
- Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record brain responses in infants.
- A repeating two-tone pattern was presented as a standard stimulus.
- An occasional change in the pattern served as the deviant stimulus to elicit MMN.
Main Results:
- Four-month-old infants demonstrated a robust MMN response to the pattern change.
- Two-month-old infants did not show a significant MMN response to the same pattern change.
- The findings suggest a developmental emergence of the MMN response within the first four months of life.
Conclusions:
- The MMN response to auditory pattern changes emerges between 2 and 4 months of age.
- By 4 months, infants possess a functional auditory change-detection mechanism similar to adults.
- This study provides insights into the maturation of auditory perception and pattern processing in early infancy.
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