When a child errs: the ERN and the Pe complex in children.

We report an analysis of the componential structure of the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited when 8-10-year-old children err. We demonstrated previously that the positive deflection that follows the error-related negativity (ERN) in young adults is a combination of two ERP components, a fronto-central positive component and a P300. As these findings affect the interpretation of error-related ERP data, it is essential to determine if the componential structure of the ERPs elicited by children's errors is similar to that found in young adults. The results of the current study confirm that, as is the case in adults, both an ERN and a fronto-central positivity are elicited by errors committed by children. In contrast to what has been previously found in adults, errors committed by children elicited a central positivity in addition to a parietal negativity that was elicited by correct responses.