Semantic processing in children 0 to 6 years of age: an N400 analysis

Abstract

This study consists of a literature review about the semantic processing in children 0 to 6 years of age and an N400 data analysis. Twenty-four studies that met the eligibility criteria were found. Most studies aimed to investigate and characterize the electrophysiological patterns of younger children as compared to those found in older children and adults. A large variability of employed experimental tasks was found, showing that there are various investigation alternatives in this perspective. In general, the joint analysis of the results pointed out that despite the different objectives, types of experimental tasks and degrees of language skills (i.e., typical development or different conditions), age was a relevant factor in establishing the presence or not of the N400 effect and its lateralization. When present, the N400 effect showed that the latency and amplitude of the wave decline according to age. However, the variability of procedures can affect the degree of control and the data reliability. For further studies, the development of a standard protocol to investigate the semantic processing by means of the N400 effect data in different populations is an important step and a strong recommendation for the area.

The Neural Underpinnings of Processing Newly Taught Semantic Information: The Role of Retrieval Practice

“…"), the N400 appears as an increase in negative polarity that peaks between 200 and 600 ms. Years of research has documented the N400 in individuals ranging in age from infants to the geriatric population (Ford et al, 1996;Fox et al, 2010;Parise & Csibra, 2012). Furthermore, a variety of experiment designs have been used to elicit the N400 in young children, including auditory-only tasks with semantic congruity and incongruity and picture-label match-mismatch tasks (e.g., Gerwin et al, 2021;Haebig et al, 2018;Kuipers & Thierry, 2013;Lindau et al, 2017;Weber-Fox et al, 2013). The N400 is most prominent in the centroparietal electrodes.…”

Understanding words in context: A naturalistic EEG study of children’s lexical processing

“…This effect persisted even after controlling for Frequency, Semantic Association, and host of control variables. Based on prior research on the N400 component in adults ( Kutas & Federmeier, 2011 ; Lau et al, 2013 ; Nieuwland & Van Berkum, 2006 ; Van Berkum et al, 1999 ) and children ( Atchley et al, 2006 ; Benau et al, 2011 ; Holcomb et al, 1992 ; Lindau et al, 2017 ) we interpret these effects as demonstrating that both adults and children can more readily retrieve words that are predictable in context.…”

“…hearing “ dog ” after seeing or hearing “ cup ”). In the picture mismatch paradigm, N400-like responses appear as early as 12 months ( Friedrich & Friederici, 2010 ; Lindau et al, 2017 ), becoming faster and more reliable over the second year of life ( Friedrich & Friederici, 2004 , 2005 ; Mills et al, 2005 ). In the violation paradigm, N400-like responses have been observed in 19-month-olds ( Friedrich & Friederici, 2005 ) as well as in toddlers and preschoolers ( Silva-Pereyra et al, 2005 ).…”

Semantic word integration in children with cochlear implants: electrophysiological evidence

“…Vocabulary size as a proxy for semantic development is often associated with the presence of an N400 response in studies with younger populations, such as before age 2 years. Additionally, the maturation of a child's semantic processing system can influence the shape of the N400 component, such that the latency and range of the N400 decreases over development (Lindau et al, 2017).…”