Time-Frequency Bands of Electromagnetic Wave from ERPCOH on Developmental Changes

Abstract

Recent changes in ongoing background activity are one of the most popular approaches to investigate brain activity for understanding child development. However, research using event-related responses of cortico-cortical connections to explore changes during childhood is rare. This study investigates mature changes in brain connectivity in associative reorganization patterns and hypothesizes that age-related changes affect oscillatory connections. The sample included children aged 7 years, 11 years, and adults. The 3 groups were studied in the time-frequency domain to analyze event-related cross phase coherence (ERPCOH) between different parts of the brain as they performed an auditory oddball task. Compared to the adult participants, the 11-year-old participants were found to have increased connectivity in theta (4-7 Hz), beta-2 (20-30 Hz), and gamma bands (30-50 Hz) in the early component (N1, 80-140 ms), although ERPCOH value decreased in the alpha-1 (7-10 Hz) and alpha-2 bands (10-13 Hz). Compared to the 11-year-old participants, 7-year-old participants had greater connectivity decreases in all frequency bands, most significantly in theta, beta-2, and gamma bands.