Infants’ neuroelectric responses to missing stimuli: Can missing stimuli be novel stimuli?

Abstract
Event‐Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded as 6‐month‐old infants were presented with a picture whose appearance was cued by a preceding tone. On a subset of these trials the picture was deleted. ERPs reflecting “surprise” to the stimulus deletion were observed on the trial following the deleted trial. These results are discussed in the context of the degree to which physically absent events act as novel events, and the limits of infants’ short‐term memory.