Response to own name in children: ERP study of auditory social information processing

Abstract

Auditory processing is an important component of cognitive development, and names are among the most frequently occurring receptive language stimuli. Although own name processing has been examined in infants and adults, surprisingly little data exist on responses to own name in children. The present ERP study examined spoken name processing in 32 children (M=7.85 years) using a passive listening paradigm. Our results demonstrated that children differentiate own and close other’s names from unknown names, as reflected by the enhanced parietal P300 response. The responses to own and close other names did not differ between each other. Repeated presentations of an unknown name did not result in the same familiarity as the known names. These results suggest that auditory ERPs to known/unknown names are a feasible means to evaluate complex auditory processing without the need for overt behavioral responses.

Social–emotional processing in nonverbal individuals with Angelman syndrome: evidence from brain responses to known and novel names

“…; Key et al . ; Peters et al . ) and confirmed by visual inspection of the grand‐averaged waveforms.…”

“…Recently, we demonstrated that the established adult pattern of increased parietal responses to personally relevant compared with novel names is also present in typically developing children between the ages of 4 and 12 years (Key et al . ). In that study, auditory ERPs recorded during passive listening successfully differentiated own and close other's names (e.g.…”

“…Importantly, in the typically developing population (Key et al . ) and in those with developmental disabilities (Peters et al . ), the social–emotional processing assessed by the ERPs was unrelated to cognitive abilities.…”

“…Based on our prior work in typical and atypical populations (Key et al . ; Peters et al . ), we hypothesised that participants with AS whose caregivers report higher levels of social and communicative functioning will demonstrate greater parietal amplitudes in response to known than unknown names within 450–750 ms.…”

Feasibility of using auditory event-related potentials to investigate learning and memory in nonverbal individuals with Angelman syndrome

“…Auditory ERPs during passive listening to a variety of spoken stimuli, from single syllables to complete words, have been previously used to document typical and atypical language functioning, make predictions regarding developmental outcomes, and to evaluate treatment effects in other neurodevelopmental disorders (Key et al, 2016; Maitre et al, 2013, 2014; Sandbank et al, 2017; Yoder et al, 2013). Recently, we successfully used auditory ERPs in response to known or familiarized through repetition stimuli compared to novel distracters to document learning and memory in nonverbal individuals with other neurogenetic disorders, such as MECP2 duplication and Rett syndromes (Peters et al, 2015, 2017, 2018), the latter sharing several phenotypic features with AS.…”