Assessment of the Parameters of Cognitive Potentials in Adolescent Northerners in Health and Developmental Delays

Components of event-related potentials (ERP) were studied using an active sound signal discrimination task in northern schoolchildren aged 12–18 years with impaired mental development and learning difficulties (IQ 65 ± 4) and without mental developmental impairments (IQ 90 ± 10). The peak latency of the P300 component in the central and parietal areas of the cortex on perception and discrimination of target sound stimuli was greater in northern children with impaired mental development (Cz 370 ± 36 msec, 8.8 ± 4.1 μV; Pz 375 ± 39 msec, 10.2 ± 3.3 μV) as compared with their normally developing peers (339 ± 28 msec, 10.4 ± 3.0 μV; 340 ± 35 msec, 12.2 ± 2.2 μV, respectively). Negative correlations were found between cognitive abilities, the accuracy and speed of information processing in an attention task, and the latency of the P300 component, with positive correlations with the amplitude of the P3 component for measures of attention. The spatial, temporal, and amplitude characteristics of ERP in adolescents with impaired mental development reflect the functional incompetence or immaturity of the hierarchical organization of the system processing and discriminating information arriving in the brain and requiring concentration of attention and decision-taking.