Magnetoencephalography and the infant brain

Abstract

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a non-invasive neuroimaging technique that provides whole-head measures of neural activity with millisecond temporal resolution. Over the last three decades, MEG has been used for assessing brain activity, most commonly in adults. MEG has been used less often to examine neural function during early development, in large part due to the fact that infant whole-head MEG systems have only recently been developed. In this review, an overview of infant MEG studies is provided, focusing on the period from birth to three years. The advantages of MEG for measuring neural activity in infants are highlighted (See Box 1), including the ability to assess activity in brain (source) space rather than sensor space, thus allowing direct assessment of neural generator activity. Recent advances in MEG hardware and source analysis are also discussed. As the review indicates, efforts in this area demonstrate that MEG is a promising technology for studying the infant brain. As a noninvasive technology, with emerging hardware providing the necessary sensitivity, an expected deliverable is the capability for longitudinal infant MEG studies evaluating the developmental trajectory (maturation) of neural activity. It is expected that departures from neuro-typical trajectories will offer early detection and prognosis insights in infants and toddlers at-risk for neurodevelopmental disorders, thus paving the way for early targeted interventions.

Identifying electrophysiological markers of autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia against a backdrop of normal brain development

“…For some diagnostic markers, a group‐difference effect‐size asymptote surrounded by steep slopes might be observed, indicating a very restricted use of the diagnostic marker. Such a pattern might be observed in studies examining brain areas that show relatively rapid development during infancy, such as primary/secondary somatosensory and visual cortex . For other measures, an asymptote surrounded by shallow slopes might be observed, indicating a more general use of the diagnostic marker, such as auditory poststimulus low‐frequency activity in SCZ.…”

“…Nevertheless, life span biomarker research is feasible with adequate understanding of the effects of maturation on the electrophysiological measure(s) of interest. As an example, Chen et al . showed that investigation of the maturation of auditory responses from infancy to adulthood suggests that at least some auditory event‐related responses can be reliably tracked across the life span (see figure 3 in Chen et al …”

Magnetic Source Imaging and Infant MEG: Current Trends and Technical Advances

“…Therefore, at least some opportunities may have been missed to investigate neural processes with more details on audition, vision, motor control, memory, attention, emotion, language, and social cognition that could be disturbed in one way or another in mental disorders such as autism that have its origin early in life. The present review serves to illustrate the challenges, constraints, and potentials of MSI in the field of infant MEG research and suggest typical practices for future studies, which supplements the existing review summaries on infant MEG research [38,39,40]. For instance, a very recent review by Chen et al [38] has covered the findings of most of the empirical infant MEG studies.…”

Prospects for Future Methodological Development and Application of Magnetoencephalography Devices in Psychiatry

“…Indeed, ASD and ADHD in child psychiatry have been well investigated using MEG (50)(51)(52)(53)(54). Although infant MEG systems are commercially available (55), only a few institutions possess these systems. The main obstacle to MEG use in babies and children is head and body movements.…”