Auditory stream segregation processes operate similarly in school-aged children and adults

Our previous research with adults suggests that pre-attentive (bottom-up) b rain processes govern auditory stream segregation [Sussman et al., 1998. Br ain Res. 789, 130-138; Sussman et al., 1999. Psychophysiology 36, 22-34; Wi nkler et al., submitted for publication]. We investigated whether the pre-a ttentive mechanisms underlying auditory stream segregation operate similarl y in school-aged (7-10 years of age) children and adults. We used an electr ophysiological index of auditory change detection that does not require the experimental participant to focus on the sounds to be evoked. In Experimen t 1, children were presented with mixtures of high and low frequency tones in different conditions and were instructed to watch a silent video and ign ore the sounds. In Experiment 2, children were asked to listen to the same sets of sounds as presented in Experiment 1 and tell whether they heard one or two auditory streams. The pre-attentive processing of the mixture of so unds as one or two auditory streams (Experiment 1), matched with the percep tion of the sounds as one or two distinct streams (Experiment 2). Our resul ts demonstrate that the mechanisms for auditory stream segregation operate similarly in school-aged children and adults when frequency proximity is th e cue for segregation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.