Maturation of cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) to speech recorded from frontocentral and temporal sites: three months to eight years of age.

The goal of the current analysis was to examine the maturation of cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) from three months of age to eight years of age. The superior frontal positive-negative-positive sequence (P1, N2, P2) and the temporal site, negative-positive-negative sequence (possibly, Na, Ta, Tb of the T-complex) were examined. Event-related potentials were recorded from 63 scalp sites to a 250-ms vowel. Amplitude and latency of peaks were measured at left and right frontal sites (near Fz) and at left and right temporal sites (T7 and T8). In addition, the largest peak (typically corresponding to P1) was selected from global field power (GFP). The results revealed a large positive peak (P1) easily identified at frontal sites across all ages. The N2 emerged after 6 months of age and the following P2 between 8 and 30 months of age. The latencies of these peaks decreased exponentially with the most rapid decrease observed for P1. For amplitude, only P1 showed a clear relationship with age, becoming more positive in a somewhat linear fashion. At the temporal sites only a negative peak, which might be Na, was clearly observed at both left and right sites in children older than 14 months and peaking between 100 and 200 ms. P1 measures at frontal sites and Na peak latencies were moderately correlated. The temporal negative peak latency showed a different maturational timecourse (linear in nature) than the P1 peak, suggesting at least partial independence. Distinct Ta (positive) and Tb (negative) peaks, following Na and peaking between 120 and 220 ms were not consistently found in most age groups of children, except Ta which was present in 7 year olds. Future research, which includes manipulation of stimulus factors, and use of modeling techniques will be needed to explain the apparent, protracted maturation of the temporal site measures in the current study.