When a child errs: the ERN and the Pe complex in children

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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Event-related Potentials During Target-response Tasks to Study Cognitive Processes of Upper Limb Use in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy
08:26

Event-related Potentials During Target-response Tasks to Study Cognitive Processes of Upper Limb Use in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

Published on: January 11, 2016

Yael Arbel1, Emanuel Donchin

  • 1Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA. yarbel@mail.usf.edu

Psychophysiology
|June 8, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Children

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Previous research identified a complex electroencephalography (EEG) response to errors in adults, involving the error-related negativity (ERN) and subsequent positive potentials.
  • Understanding the neural basis of error processing in children is crucial for developmental insights and educational applications.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the componential structure of event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with errors in 8-10-year-old children.
  • To compare the error-related ERPs in children with those previously observed in adults.

Main Methods:

  • EEG recordings were obtained from 8-10-year-old children during an error-detection task.
  • Analysis focused on the event-related potentials (ERPs) time-locked to erroneous responses.

Main Results:

  • Children, like adults, exhibited an error-related negativity (ERN) following errors.
  • A fronto-central positivity was observed in children's error-related ERPs, consistent with adult findings.
  • Children's errors also elicited a central positivity, alongside a parietal negativity for correct responses, differing from adult patterns.

Conclusions:

  • The findings confirm that children exhibit similar core components of error-related ERPs (ERN and fronto-central positivity) as adults.
  • Developmental differences exist, as indicated by the unique central positivity and parietal negativity patterns observed in children's error processing.

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