Time-frequency dynamics of error monitoring in childhood: an EEG study

Error monitoring allows individuals to monitor and adapt their behavior by detecting errors. Error monitoring is thought to develop throughout childhood and adolescence. However, most of this evidence comes from studies in late childhood and adolescence utilizing ERPs. The current study utilizes time-frequency (TF) and connectivity analyses to provide a comprehensive examination of age-related changes in error monitoring processes across early childhood (N=326; 50.9% females; 4-9 years). ERP analyses indicated the presence of the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) across age. Results showed no error-specific age-related changes in the ERN and the Pe. However, TF analyses suggested error-related frontocentral responses in delta and theta signal strength (power), delta consistency (inter-trial phase synchrony), and delta synchrony (inter-channel phase synchrony) between frontrocentral and frontolateral clusters–all of which increased with age. Additionally, the current study examines the reliability and effect size estimates of the ERP and TF measures. For most measures, more trials were needed to achieve acceptable reliability than what is commonly used in the psychophysiological literature. Resources to facilitate the measurement and reporting of reliability are provided. Overall, findings highlight the utility of TF analyses and provide useful information for future studies examining the development of error monitoring.