An introduction to the measurement of auditory event-related potentials (ERPs)

In 1939, Pauline Davis reported the first study on event-related potentials (ERPs) performed on awake humans. ERPs are time-locked brain potentials that occur in response to cognitive, motor or perceptual events. The events used by Davis were sounds, and in the decades that followed her landmark study ERP research significantly contributed to the knowledge of auditory perception and neurophysiology we have today. ERPs are very well suited to study neural responses to sound stimuli, since the researcher can monitor the brain's registration of sound edges and spectral changes in sound on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis. In this overview we will introduce basic concepts of auditory ERP research. The overview includes descriptions of typical ERP components, experimental paradigms, sound stimuli, research methodology, and ways to analyze data.