[Development of visual information processing and age-related changes in P300 latency].
P 300 event-related potentials were recorded in 72 normal subjects ranging from 5 to 25 years of age for three visual discrimination tasks. A progressive decrease of P300 latency with curvelinear function was found in all the tasks. However, the age/P300 latency slope from 5 to 14 years was different for two word discrimination tasks and a color discrimination task, -17 ms/y (-16 ms/y) and -28 ms/y respectively. The curvelinear regression equation predicted the shortest latency of P300 to be observed at 26 years (28 years) in word discrimination tasks in contrast to 19 years in a color discrimination task. These results indicated the P300 latency varies depending upon the task type; different tasks require different modes of cognitive information processing. This fact should be taken into account when P300 latency is used for evaluating children's cognitive development.
Yanagihara
M
M
Faculty of Education, Okayama University.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology