Development of skin conductance orienting, habituation, and reorienting from ages 3 to 8 years: a longitudinal latent growth curve analysis.

Little is known about the development of the skin conductance orienting response (SCOR) in childhood. This longitudinal study examines the effects of age on initial SCOR, habituation, and reorienting. Skin conductance responses to nonsignal auditory stimuli were recorded from 200 male and female children at five different time points (ages 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 years). Longitudinal latent growth curve analyses were used to determine the trajectory of each SCOR measure during this period. Results indicated that (a) initial SCOR is present at age 3, increases thereafter to peak at age 6, and then levels off, (b) habituation is absent at age 3, but becomes apparent at age 4 years and increases thereafter with increasing age, (c) SC reorienting is absent from ages 3 to 8, and (d) boys and girls do not exhibit different developmental trajectories. Results suggest that from age 3 to 8 years, the transition from the functionally immature to mature neural network underlying orienting and habituation is a continuous process and may be related to children's cognitive development during this period.