Error-Monitoring and Affect in Young Children

Brooker, Buss, and Dennis (2011) investigated error-monitoring ERP components in association with affect and attentional control in children between 4 and 8 years of age. The most research on error-monitoring has been done in adult samples and they want to see if there are some similarities or differences. The children underwent two experiments. The first one was interacting with a stranger, and the second task was a computerized version of The Attention Network Test, child version. During the ANT ERP's were recorded. It was found that the age of the child was positively related to the number of correct responses that were made. In this group of young children clear components as the event related negativity (ERN) as well as the error positivity (Pe) were apparent. A regression analysis revealed that concerning the ERN there was no significant effect of age. There was a gender effect found in which girls showed a larfer difference amplitude of the ERN, which is the relation among correct and incorrect trials. This result was not found in the boys. The Pe showed no difference among the age and gender of the child. The ERN and Pe were both associated with the childrens affective behavior. It is stated that these two ERP components can already be seen at a very young age as well as differences in affective behaviors (Brooker et al., 2011).