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. 1990 Mar-Apr;77(2):151-5.
doi: 10.1016/0168-5597(90)90031-8.

Event-related brain potential of human newborns to pitch change of an acoustic stimulus

K Alho  1 , K Sainio, N Sajaniemi, K Reinikainen, R Näätänen
Affiliations

Event-related brain potential of human newborns to pitch change of an acoustic stimulus

K Alho et al. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1990 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

We report here event-related potentials (ERPs) of human newborns to occasional pitch changes in a repetitive sequence of tone pips. These pitch changes elicited a large slow negative ERP component which resembles the mismatch negativity (MMN) generated by the adult brain under similar conditions. This MMN-type of negativity in newborns suggests that already at this early ontogenetic stage the brain monitors the acoustic environment for a possible change in any of its repetitive aspects. Apart from its theoretical interest, this finding might provide a new way to test the development of the central nervous system and to diagnose cerebral dysfunction at a very early stage.

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