Mapping the electrophysiological marker of sleep depth reveals skill maturation in children and adolescents

Abstract

Electroencephalographically (EEG) recorded slow wave activity (SWA, 1–4.5 Hz), reflecting the depth of sleep, is suggested to play a crucial role in synaptic plasticity. Mapping of SWA by means of high-density EEG reveals that cortical regions showing signs of maturational changes (structural and behavioral) during childhood and adolescence exhibit more SWA. Moreover, the maturation of specific skills is predicted by the topographical distribution of SWA. Thus, SWA topography may serve as a promising neuroimaging tool with prognostic potential. Finally, our data suggest that deep sleep SWA in humans is involved in cortical development that optimizes performance.

Sleep, Affect, and Social Competence from Preschool to Preadolescence: Distinct Pathways to Emotional and Social Adjustment for Boys and for Girls

“…This finding suggests that sleep difficulties during critical periods of brain development may interfere with the development of neural mechanisms that govern affective regulation (Marks et al, 1995; Dahl, 1996; Dahl and Conway, 2009; Ringli and Huber, 2011; Kurth et al, 2012). Social competence relies on the simultaneous and highly complex cognitive and emotional processing that is most sensitive to sleep loss.…”

Sleep in Childhood and Adolescence: Age-Specific Sleep Characteristics, Common Sleep Disturbances and Associated Difficulties

“…Indeed, Buchmann and colleagues (2011) demonstrated that sleep EEG, most notably in the SWA frequency range, was associated with grey matter volume/thickness particularly in brain regions undergoing maturation during adolescence (such as the medial parietal lobe and the prefrontal cortex). Others have demonstrated that the maturation of SWA precedes the thinning of grey matter (Kurth et al 2012). Whether the correlation between SWA and grey matter density is purely coincident or whether these changes reflect active interactions is yet to be determined.…”

“…Before adolescence the brain undergoes a surge of growth in both grey and white matter, with a peak before puberty coinciding with the pronunciation of SWA (Kurth et al 2012;Kurth et al 2010). Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that between the ages of 4--20 years cortical white matter increases linearly, while cortical grey matter changes in a non--linear fashion, peaking in pre--adolescence and decreasing post--adolescence (Giedd et al 1999;Pfefferbaum et al 1994).…”

The journey through the world of adolescent sleep

“…Analogous age-related spatial changes were not detected for other frequency ranges. Mapping of SWA using high-density EEG also reveals an association between the structural maturation of cortical regions during childhood and adolescence and the maturation of SWA (Kurth et al, 2012). The similar pattern in topographical changes (timing and location) of SWA and MRI measured cortical maturation across adolescence supports the idea that SWA 'not only reflect global changes in synapse density but also mirror the regional aspects of cortical maturation' (Kurth et al, 2010a).…”