The development of lateral event-related potentials (ERPs) related to word naming: A four year longitudinal study.

Recorded ERPs from the left and right temporal and parietal sites during a word naming task. Ss were 74 children that were followed over 4 consecutive years starting at kindergarten. ERP waveforms contained a sequence of positive and negative components (N150, P240, N360, N530, and SW). A relationship was found between reading performance and ERP amplitudes over the right parietal hemisphere in young Ss, and over the left temporal hemisphere in older Ss. Proficient readers showed larger (more negative) parietal N530 amplitudes than less proficient readers, especially when stimuli were degraded words. Results are discussed in terms of age-related changes in right and left hemisphere functions involved in early and advanced stages of reading, that might be related to visual word recognition.