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Abstract:
The purpose of the present study was to contrast
childrenís event-related potentials (ERPs) with those of
adults in a visual recognition memory task. Twenty 4-year-old
children and 17 adults were presented with pictorial images, half
of which had been previously shown, and were asked to indicate
whether each picture had been seen before. In both samples, an
old/new effect was found in the ERP, namely that responses to
correctly classified old pictures elicited more positive-going ERPs
than responses to correctly classified new pictures. However, there
were differences between adultsí and childrenís ERPs
with respect to the asymmetric scalp distribution and the time
course of the old/new difference. With adults, the ERP differences
between old and new pictures were bilateral, whereas with children,
the differences had a tendency to be stronger over the right
hemisphere. In addition, childrenís ERP effects for correct
discrimination between old and new pictures began around 400-500 ms
later than it did in adults. The similarities and differences
between the child and adult findings are discussed in terms of
developmental changes in cognitive abilities, which may be mirrored
through maturational changes in ERPs.
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