ReviewBeyond the N1: A review of late somatosensory evoked responses in human infants

- This article synthesizes existing research on late somatosensory evoked responses in infants.
- Late responses are a valuable and promising tool for studying somatosensory development.
- Possibilities and considerations for future research on late responses are discussed.

Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) have been used for decades to study the development of somatosensory processing in human infants. Research on infant SEPs has focused on the initial cortical component (N1) and its clinical utility for predicting neurological outcome in at-risk infants. However, recent studies suggest that examining the later components in the infant somatosensory evoked response will greatly advance our understanding of somatosensory processing in infancy. The purpose of this review is to synthesize the existing electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies on late somatosensory evoked responses in infants. We describe the late responses that have been reported and discuss the utility of such responses for illuminating key aspects of somatosensory processing in typical and atypical development.