Maturation of mismatch negativity in school-age children

Objective: Event-related potentials were recorded to investigate the matura tion of auditory processing in school-age children. Design: The mismatch negativity (MMN) was obtained in an oddball tone discr imination paradigm in 66 school-age children and 12 adults. In the children 's data, a prominent negativity to both the standard and deviant tone, peak ing around 200 msec, was observed, and compared with the N1 auditory evoked potential component. Results: The MMN was found to decrease with latency by 11 msec/yr from 4 to 10 yr of age. No developmental change in MMN amplitude was seen from 4 to 10 yr of age. However, the MMN amplitude was significantly smaller in adult s than in children. The prominent negativity in children was significantly later than the adult N1 component, and did not change in latency from 4 to 10 yr of age. This finding adds to a body of evidence suggesting that this prominent negativity and the adult N1 are not the same component. The magni tude of the prominent negativity in children decreased slightly with age. Conclusion: Changes in the timing of the brain discriminative response, MMN , suggest systematic maturational changes in auditory processing.