The P300 event related potential predicts phonological working memory skills in school-aged children

The P300 event related potential (ERP) has been cited as a marker of phonological working memory (PWM); however, little is known regarding its relationship to behavioral PWM skills in early school-aged children. The current study investigates the P300 ERP recorded in response to native and non-native (English and Spanish) phoneme contrasts as a predictor of PWM skills in monolingual English-speaking first and second grade children. Thirty-three typically developing children, ages 6-9, completed a battery of phonological processing, language, and cognitive assessments. ERPs were recorded within an auditory oddball paradigm in response to both English phoneme contrasts (/ta/, /pa/) and Spanish contrasts (/t̪a/, /d̪a/). The P300 ERP recorded in response to English phoneme contrasts significantly predicted standard scores on the Nonword Repetition subtest of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, Second Edition. Spanish contrasts did not elicit a P300 response, nor were amplitude or latency values within the P300 timeframe (250-500 ms) recorded in response to Spanish contrasts related to English nonword repetition performance. This study provides further evidence that the P300 ERP in response to native phonemic contrasts indexes PWM skills, specifically nonword repetition performance, in monolingual children. Further work is necessary to determine the extent to which the P300 response to changing phonological stimuli reflects PWM skills in other populations.