Available online 8 February 2023, 101212

Past work has shown reduced visual P300 amplitude as children develop.

Majority of these studies are cross-sectional and few studies have examined the dynamics between age and puberty on P300.

Neither age nor pubertal development uniquely predicted change in P300 amplitude over time.

However, age and pubertal development significantly interacted to predict changes in P300 amplitude over two years.

This finding implicates the role of early pubertal timing on neurodevelopment during childhood and adolescence.

The P300 event-related potential (ERP) has been extensively studied across the human lifespan. However, many studies examining age-related effects are cross-sectional, and few have considered the unique role that pubertal development may have on P300 developmental trajectories. The current study examined whether age, pubertal maturation or their interaction predicted changes in P300 amplitude over two years among 129 females between the ages of 8 and 15 years at baseline. Participants completed a flanker task while EEG was recorded at a baseline and two-year follow-up visit. Both baseline age and increased pubertal development were associated with smaller P300 amplitude at follow-up. However, the influence of age was qualified by an interaction between age and pubertal maturation: among younger girls only, increased pubertal development predicted decreases in P300, whereas decreased pubertal development predicted increases in P300. These data indicate that pubertal timing impacts neurodevelopmental changes in P300 amplitude – such that high versus low pubertal development among 8- to 10-year-old girls predicted differential trajectories of neural activity. In light of links between reduced P300 and mental health disorders, such as depression, future studies might examine whether neurodevelopmental changes influenced by early-onset pubertal development could account for increases in these mental health problems.

ERP

Prospective

P300

Age

Puberty

Adolescence

Published by Elsevier Ltd.