Electrophysiological correlates of attention networks in childhood and early adulthood

Abstract

a b s t r a c tAttention has been related to functions of alerting, orienting, and executive control, which are associated with distinct brain networks. This study aimed at understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the development of attention functions during childhood. A total of 46 healthy 4-13-year-old children and 15 adults performed an adapted version of the Attention Network Task (ANT) while brain activation was registered with a high-density EEG system. Performance of the ANT revealed changes in the efficiency of attention networks across ages. While no differences were observed on the alerting score, both orienting and executive attention scores showed a more protracted developmental curve. Further, age-related differences in brain activity were mostly observed in early ERP components. Young children had poorer early processing of warning cues compared to 10-13-year-olds and adults, as shown by an immature auditory-evoked potential complex elicited by warning tones. Also, 4-6-year-olds exhibited a poorer processing of orienting cues as indexed by lack of modulation of the N1. Finally, flanker congruency produced earlier modulation of ERPs amplitude with age. Flanker congruency effects were delayed and more anteriorly distributed for young children, compared to adults who showed a clear modulation of the N2 in fronto-parietal channels. Additionally, interactions among attention networks were examined. Both alerting and orienting conditions modulated the effectiveness of conflict processing by the executive attention network. The Orienting  Executive networks interactions was only observed after about age 7. Results are informative of the neural correlates of the development of attention networks in childhood.

The Correlation among Neural Dynamic Processing of Conflict Control, Testosterone and Cortisol Levels in 10-Year-Old Children

“…In this study, we also found that P3/SP responses were stronger and slower on incongruent trials than in congruent trials of the Stroop and Flanker tasks during neural processing of conflict resolution, which is consistent with cognitive control theory and prior empirical findings (Liotti et al, 2000; Rueda et al, 2004; Jonkman, 2006; Smith et al, 2008; Abundis-Gutierrez et al, 2014). Hormone effects on P3/SP responses reflected a possible testosterone-driven pattern in the Stroop and Flanker tasks.…”

“…Conflict resolution is associated with the neural processing of resolution of the conflicts. The positive P3 and slow potential (SP) with central-parietal distribution correlate with conflict resolution (Liotti et al, 2000; Rueda et al, 2004; Jonkman, 2006; Smith et al, 2008; Abundis-Gutierrez et al, 2014). …”

The Interplay Between Multisensory Associative Learning and IQ in Children

“…Therefore, it is possible that an inferior ability to utilize multisensory information for facilitation at a lower stimulus processing level may have impacted on children's ability to exploit this for the benefit of cognitive operations, such as the learning of novel multisensory associations. Immature attention capacities in children may have also contributed to this result (e.g., Abundis‐Gutierrez, Checa, Castellanos, & Rosario Rueda, ; Cromer, Schembri, Harel, & Maruff, ; Morrison, ; Pozuelos, Paz‐Alonso, Castillo, Fuentes, & Rueda, ), as multisensory processes have been shown to be dependent on an individual's state of attention (e.g., Dean et al., ; Hillyard, Stormer, Feng, Martinez, & McDonald, ; Talsma, ; Talsma, Senkowski, Soto‐Faraco, & Woldorff, ). Indeed, it is likely that the current task engaged significant attentional resources given the speeded nature of the task and the fact that an incidental trial‐and‐error learning paradigm was employed.…”

Influence of the SLC6A3-DAT1 Gene on Multifaceted Measures of Self-regulation in Preschool Children

“…Electrophysiological (Abundis-Gutiérrez et al, 2014) and neuroimaging (Casey et al, 2000; Konrad et al, 2005) studies have shown that structural and functional changes in the brain support this development.…”