Development of auditory change‐detection and attentional capture, and their relation to inhibitory control

EEG methods offer a promising approach to study the development of attention or attention‐related processes such as change‐detection and attentional capture. However, the development of these attention processes from early to middle childhood is not well understood. In the current study, we utilized a passive three‐stimulus oddball paradigm to examine age‐related changes in auditory change‐detection and attentional capture in a large sample of children across childhood (N = 475; 249 female, 226 male; Mage = 6.71; SDage = 2.22; Rangeage = 4.01–11.5 years). Conventional ERP analyses revealed no age‐related changes in change detection (mismatch negativity) and attentional capture (P3a) components, but we observed age‐related reductions in late automatic processing of auditory change (late discriminative negativity). However, when utilizing time‐frequency analyses, we observed developmental increases in frontocentral signal strength (power) and consistency (inter‐trial phase synchrony) in delta and theta bands in response to novel sounds. Such frontocentral delta/theta responses have been linked in prior work to cognitive control. To further examine this possibility, we examined relations with inhibitory control. Results revealed that increased consistency in theta in response to novel sounds was related to improved inhibitory control. Together, our results advance our understanding of the development of attention in childhood. Moreover, they demonstrate the contributions of time‐frequency approaches to studying neurocognitive development. Finally, our results highlight the utility of neuroimaging paradigms that have low cognitive and motor demands to study the development of psychological processes. We examined age‐related differences in the auditory attention processes of change‐detection and orienting across childhood. ERP analyses revealed few age‐related changes. In contrast, time‐frequency analyses showed increases in frontocentral signal strength and consistency in delta and theta bands. Moreover, time‐frequency measures, but not ERPs, were related to improved inhibitory control, suggesting that these measures of auditory attention might be related to top‐down processes. Our findings demonstrate the contributions of time‐frequency approaches to studying neurocognitive development.