The present study examined developmental and sex differences in the FRN from middle childhood through adolescence across three groups of children, 10–12 yrs., 13–14 yrs., and 15–17 yrs. We hypothesized that FRN amplitude would decrease across our three age groups, consistent with previous work. In addition, we predicted that females would show a smaller amplitude response to feedback as compared to males. In line with previous developmental studies on ERP latency, and the FRN developmental latency trend observed by Zottoli and Grose-Fifer (2011), we expected to see a decrease in FRN latency across our three age groups. Finally, we conducted an ERP source analysis to examine neural activity underlying reward and non-reward feedback processing using low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA).We expected ACC regions and OFC regions, previously reported on, to be differentially responsive to reward and non-reward feedback conditions, with greater activation (nanoamperes) for reward (Santesso et al., 2011). We used a four-choice selection feedback task similar to Holroyd’s (Holroyd, Nieuwenhuis, Yeung, & Cohen, 2003) and our previous work (Crowley, Wu, Bailey, & Mayes, 2009; Crowley, Wu, Crutcher, et al., 2009).
