Event-related potential correlates of sound duration: similar pattern frombirth to adulthood

The effects of sound duration on event-related potentials (ERP) were studie d in newborns and adults. Increasing tone duration from 200 to 300 ms led t o the enhancement of the N2 peak amplitude, whereas two peaks became distin guishable in the N2 response elicited by 400 ms long tones. The sound-durat ion related ERP changes most likely reflect contribution from the sustained potential, although the observed results can also be explained by assuming the elicitation of a sound-duration sensitive frontocentrally negative ERP component (duration-sensitive N2; DN2). The pattern of duration-related ch anges observed in newborn infants was very similar to that in adults, regar dless of the structural differences between adult and infant ERPs. The resu lts suggest that sound duration is processed already at birth in a similar way as in adulthood. NeuroReport 12:3777-3781 (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.