Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with a range of physical, cognitive, and behavioral problems, particularly in arithmetic. We report ERP data collected from 32 infants (mean age = 6.8 mo; SD = 0.6; range = 6.1–8.1; 16 typically developing [TD]; 16 prenatally alcohol-exposed) during a task designed to assess error detection. Evidence of error monitoring at this early age suggests that precursors of the onset of executive control can already be detected in infancy. As predicted, the ERPs of the TD infants, time-locked to the presentation of the solution to simple arithmetic equations, showed greater negative activity for the incorrect solution condition at middle-frontal scalp areas. Spectral analysis indicated specificity to the 6–7 Hz frequency range. By contrast, the alcohol-exposed infants did not show the increased middle-frontal negativity seen in the TD group nor the increased power in the 6–7 Hz frequency, suggesting a marked developmental delay in error detection and/or early impairment in information processing of small quantities. Overall, our research demonstrates that (a) the brain network involved in error detection can be identified and highly specified in TD young infants, and (b) this effect is replicable and can be utilized for studying developmental psychopathology at very early ages.

产前酒精暴露（PAE）与一系列身体，认知和行为问题有关，尤其是在算术方面。我们报告了在旨在评估错误检测的任务中，从32名婴儿（平均年龄= 6.8 mo； SD = 0.6；范围= 6.1-8.1； 16名典型发展中[TD]； 16名产前酒精暴露）收集的ERP数据。在早期阶段进行错误监视的证据表明，在婴儿期就已经可以检测到执行控制发作的前兆。正如预测的那样，TD婴儿的ERPs锁定了简单算术方程的求解时间，对中额头皮区域的不正确求解条件显示出更大的负面活动。频谱分析表明对6–7 Hz频率范围具有特异性。相比之下，酒精暴露的婴儿在TD组中并未显示出中额叶负电性增强，在6–7 Hz频率中并未显示出增强的功率，这表明错误检测的显着发育延迟和/或少量信息处理的早期损害。总的来说，我们的研究表明（a）可以识别和高度识别TD幼儿中涉及错误检测的大脑网络，并且（b）这种效果是可复制的，可以用于研究非常早的发育心理病理学。