Dissimilar age influences on two ERP waveforms (LPC and N400) reflecting semantic context effect.

Age-related changes in semantic context effects were examined using late event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Auditory ERPs to semantically congruous and incongruous final words in spoken sentences were recorded in 16 children (aged 5-11 years) and 16 adults. Previous findings concerning age-related effects on N400 were replicated: the N400 effect was significantly larger in children than in adults. The main new finding was that a late positive component (LPC) following N400 and modulated by semantic context in adults was not found in children. Thus, the common generalization that semantic context effects decline with age holds only for ERP components occurring in the N400 time window or earlier. The cognitive function reflected by the semantic LPC we observed is not clear, but it seems to have a role different from that of the N400, although in adults the components often co-exist as an N400-LPC complex.

[1]  K. Squires,et al.  Age-related variations in evoked potentials to auditory stimuli in normal human subjects. , 1978, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[2]  M. Kutas,et al.  Fractionating the Word Repetition Effect with Event-Related Potentials , 1991, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[3]  M. Kutas,et al.  Brain potentials during reading reflect word expectancy and semantic association , 1984, Nature.

[4]  Albert Kok,et al.  The development of lateral event-related potentials (ERPs) related to word naming: a four year longitudinal study , 1988, Neuropsychologia.

[5]  H. Huynh,et al.  Conditions under Which Mean Square Ratios in Repeated Measurements Designs Have Exact F-Distributions , 1970 .

[6]  J. Ford,et al.  N4 to spoken sentences in young and older subjects. , 1993, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[7]  M. Kutas,et al.  Event-related brain potentials to grammatical errors and semantic anomalies , 1983, Memory & cognition.

[8]  M. Kutas,et al.  The lateral distribution of event-related potentials during sentence processing , 1982, Neuropsychologia.

[9]  J. Kounios,et al.  Structure and process in semantic memory: evidence from event-related brain potentials and reaction times. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[10]  M. Kutas,et al.  Electrophysiological evidence for task effects on semantic priming in auditory word processing. , 1993, Psychophysiology.

[11]  A. Kok,et al.  Grade-related changes in event-related potentials (ERPs) in primary school children: differences between two reading tasks. , 1992, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[12]  Sachiko Koyama,et al.  Effects of semantic context and event-related potentials: N400 correlates with inhibition effect , 1992, Brain and Language.

[13]  M. Kutas,et al.  Event-related brain potentials during initial encoding and recognition memory of congruous and incongruous words , 1986 .

[14]  H. Neville,et al.  Visual and auditory sentence processing: A developmental analysis using event‐related brain potentials , 1992 .

[15]  M. Kutas,et al.  Reading between the lines: Event-related brain potentials during natural sentence processing , 1980, Brain and Language.

[16]  M. R. Harter,et al.  Developmental Aspects of Event‐Related Potentials , 1984, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[17]  D. Stuss,et al.  Electrophysiological manifestations of typicality judgment , 1988, Brain and Language.

[18]  S. Farmer,et al.  The effects of physical and semantic incongruities on auditory event-related potentials. , 1984, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[19]  Michael D. Rugg,et al.  Event-related potentials and the phonological processing of words and non-words , 1984, Neuropsychologia.

[20]  M. Kutas,et al.  Reading senseless sentences: brain potentials reflect semantic incongruity. , 1980, Science.

[21]  P. Holcomb.  Automatic and attentional processing: An event-related brain potential analysis of semantic priming , 1988, Brain and Language.

[22]  M. Kutas,et al.  An Electrophysiological Probe of Incidental Semantic Association , 1989, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[23]  M. Kutas,et al.  Event-related potential asymmetries during the reading of sentences. , 1988, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[24]  Albert Kok,et al.  Comparison of Event‐Related Potentials of Young Children and Adults in a Visual Recognition and Word Reading Task , 1985 .

[25]  M. Kutas,et al.  An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Analysis of Semantic Congruity and Repetition Effects in Sentences , 1992, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[26]  H. Neville,et al.  The Neurobiology of Sensory and Language Processing in Language-Impaired Children , 1993, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[27]  J. Connolly,et al.  Event-Related Potential Components Reflect Phonological and Semantic Processing of the Terminal Word of Spoken Sentences , 1994, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[28]  M I Posner,et al.  Topography of the N400: brain electrical activity reflecting semantic expectancy. , 1993, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[29]  M. Kutas,et al.  Electrophysiology of cognitive processing. , 1983, Annual review of psychology.

[30]  Albert Kok,et al.  Hemispheric distribution of ERP components and word naming in preschool children , 1986, Brain and Language.

[31]  A. Revonsuo,et al.  Slowing of Information Processing in Parkinson′s Disease , 1993, Brain and Cognition.

[32]  H. Neville,et al.  Natural speech processing: An analysis using event-related brain potentials , 1991, Psychobiology.

[33]  S. Sutton,et al.  Longitudinal and cross-sectional comparisons of young children's cognitive ERPs and behavior in a picture-matching task: preliminary findings. , 1990, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[34]  E. Courchesne.  Neurophysiological correlates of cognitive development: changes in long-latency event-related potentials from childhood to adulthood. , 1978, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[35]  H. Neville,et al.  Language and , 2019, Adventure Diffusion.

[36]  Peter Hagoort,et al.  The Processing Nature of the N400: Evidence from Masked Priming , 1993, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.