Electrophysiological correlates of category induction in children and adults

Category induction involves abstraction of features common to two or more stimuli. Event-related potentials (ERPs) during induction and non-induction tasks were recorded for 12 children and 12 adults. We found that (1) ERP waves, except P2 amplitude, decreased significantly with age, (2) Compared to non-induction tasks, induction tasks elicited larger fronto-central N2 components in both age groups, (3) The amplitude of the late positive component was significantly greater in the induction condition than in the non-induction condition, and (4) The difference wave suggested that category induction was mainly located in the left hemisphere in children but was not lateralized in adults.