Résumé
The Mismatch Negativity [MMN] is an automatic cortical evoked potential that provides a tool for studying central auditory processing mechanisms involved in the perception of simple acoustic stimuli and of speech sounds. Because it does not require the subjects' attention to the stimuli it was used in this study in assessing 20 children with specific language impairment [SLI], who are expected to suffer from attentional problems as well. Their results were compared to those obtained from 20 children with normal language development in a trial to explore any underlying central auditory processing disorders in SLI children. The results revealed that children with SLI had significantly higher values of waveform latency and amplitude values that age matched children with normal languge development. However, there was no significant relation between the findings and the amplitude of language deficit. The effect of age on MMN results in both normal and SLI children is evaluted and discussed in this study