Comparison of the P300 between maintenance and manipulation conditions in the auditory N-back paradigm among early and late adolescents.

PURPOSE: The P300 recorded using N-back tasks could be used to identify brain regions involved in the maintenance and manipulation demands of working memory. The difference in brain activity between zero-back and one-back conditions highlights areas activated during the maintenance phase of the working memory. Similarly, the difference between one-back and two-back conditions reveals brain regions engaged in the manipulation process of working memory. The difference between zero-back and two-back conditions reflects areas activated during both the maintenance and manipulation processes. This study aims to compare the P300 between early and late adolescents in elicited using various N back conditions.

METHODS

A total of 48 individuals participated in the study in two groups. Group 1 included 24 late adolescents and group 2 included 24 early adolescents. All participants had hearing sensitivity within normal limits in both ears. The P300 was elicited by presenting stimuli using N-back paradigm in zero-back, one-back, and two-back conditions.

RESULTS

The latency of P300 was shorter and amplitude was larger in late adolescents compared to early adolescents. Further, the amplitude of P300 in maintenance process was highest compared to the manipulation process at all the electrode sites. However, this difference was not statistically significant between groups across conditions.

CONCLUSION

The present study shows that the P300 amplitude is not significantly different between early and late adolescents across the N-back conditions.