Table 1.

Glossary of some ERP components commonly examined in studies of typical and/or atypical development, as well as some relevant adult components. Components are typically labeled according to the polarity of the deflection (i.e., P = positive; N = negative), and the peak latency of the component in milliseconds (e.g., N170 peaks approximately 170 ms following the presentation of a visual stimulus). Alternatively, components are sometimes labeled based on the topography of the ERP waveform (e.g., the auditory N2 is the second negative deflection observed in response to an auditory stimulus). Finally, the names of other components are derived from their apparent functional significance (e.g., Error-Related Negativity is observed following an errant motor response) or their scalp topography (e.g., Left Anterior Negativity).

Process	Component	Ages Observed	Function	Scalp distribution, Timing	Notes
Auditory Sensory	Mismatch Negativity (MMN)	Birth onward	Obligatory auditory discrimination and/or sensory memory.	Fronto-central, 100 – 250 ms	Plotted as a difference wave (deviant stimulus response minus standard stimulus response)
	P50 / P1 Repetition Suppression	Early adolescence onward	Reduction of amplitude following repetition, indexes sensory inhibition	Vertex, ∼50 ms in adults	This function may be observable in neonates. May also be observable in the visual domain.
	N2	Infancy onward	Stimulus complexity, tone processing, speech vs non-speech in children and adults	Fronto-Central, 150 - 250 ms in adults; ∼250 - 350 ms in children
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Visual Sensory	P100	Birth / infancy	Visual pattern reversal, visual thresholds, visual discrimination thresholds	Occipital, ∼100 ms in adults; 250 – 300 ms in neonates
	C1	Adulthood	Initial cortical processing in V1 (∼ 56 ms)	Occipital, ∼60 ms
	P1	Infancy, adulthood	Under unique circumstances, may index magnocellular visual pathway functioning	Occipital, ∼100 ms
	N1	Birth / infancy, adulthood	Under unique circumstances, may index parvocellular visual pathway functioning	Occipital, 65 – 85 ms
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Face Processing	N290	Infancy and early childhood	Sensory-perceptual processing of faces	Occipital-Temporal, ∼290 ms	See also N170, P400
	P400	Infancy and early childhood	Sensory-perceptual and early cognitive processing of faces	Occipital-Temporal, ∼400 ms	See also N290, N170
	P1 / P100	Birth onward	Face processing during childhood, face inversion during childhood	Occipital-Temporal, ∼100 ms in adults	Significant developmental changes, sometimes indexing face processing
	N170 / N1	Middle childhood onward	Sensory-perceptual processing of faces, perceptual experience	Occipital-Temporal, ∼170 ms	See also VPP, P100, N290, P400
	Vertex Positive Potential (VPP)	Adulthood	Sensory-perceptual processing of faces	Centro-Frontal, ∼170 ms	Highly similar functionally to the N170
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Memory / Attention	Negative Central (Nc)	Infancy and childhood	Attention, recognition memory	Fronto-Central, ∼550 ms	Auditory, visual, and cross-modal. Also relevant for face processing and cognition
	Negative Slow Wave (NSW)		Recognition memory	Fronto-Central, ∼1000 – 1500 ms	Auditory, visual, and cross-modal
	Positive Slow Wave (PSW)		Updating of memory representations	Fronto-Central, ∼650 – 1250 ms	Auditory, visual, and cross-modal
	P3a	Middle childhood onward	Attentional engagement, sensory working memory	Midline with frontal maximum, 250 – 500 ms	Time-locked to a target stimulus in oddball paradigms. Part of the P300 / P3 / LPC. See also P3b.
	P3b	Middle to late childhood onward	Context updating relevant to memory storage	Midline with parietal maximum, 350 – 550 ms	Time-locked to a target stimulus in oddball paradigms. Part of the P300 / P3 / LPC. See also P3a.
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Language	N200-400	Toddlerhood	Word familiarity, hemispheric specialization for words	Temporal-Parietal, 200 – 400 ms	Analyzed as mean amplitude differences
	N400	Early childhood onward	Semantic context match / mismatch, semantic integration	Centro-Parietal, ∼400 ms	An N400-like response has been observed in toddlers
	P600 / Syntactic Positivity Shift (SPS)	Early childhood, Adulthood	Syntactic violations, rule-based violations	Centro-Parietal, ∼600 ms	See also LAN / ELAN
	Left Anterior Negativity (LAN) / Early Left Anterior Negativity (ELAN)	Middle childhood onward	Syntactic structure violations, rule-based sequence violations	Left Frontal, ELAN ∼200 ms, LAN 300 – 700 ms	See also P600 / SPS
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Executive Functioning	Error-Related Negativity (ERN) / Error Negativity (Ne)	Late childhood onward	Error monitoring, response evaluation	Centro-Medial, 50 – 150 ms	Time-locked to subjects' motor / button box response. See also N2
	N2	Late adolescence onward	Response inhibition	Fronto-Central, 200 – 300 ms	Time-locked to correct responses on incongruent trials, or in go / no-go tasks
	Error Positivity (Pe)	Adolescence onward	Cognitive / emotional evaluation or response errors	Centro-Parietal, 200 – 400 ms	Time-locked to subjects' motor response errors. See also ERN and N2
	Contingent Negative Variation (CNV)	Late childhood onward	Stimulus evaluation, motor and cognitive preparation	Fronto-Central, 400 – 800 ms	Occurs between a warning stimulus and a stimulus requiring a response
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