TY - JOUR
T1 - Top-down control of MEG alpha-band activity in children performing Categorical N-Back Task
AU - Ciesielski, Kristina T.
AU - Ahlfors, Seppo P.
AU - Bedrick, Edward J.
AU - Kerwin, Audra A.
AU - Hämäläinen, Matti S.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Drs Bruce Rosen for his continuous support and Mark Vangel for helpful comments. Study was supported in part by the National Center for Research Resources ( P41RR14075 ). Authorship: KTC and MSH are both senior authors.
PY - 2010/10
Y1 - 2010/10
N2 - Top-down cognitive control has been associated in adults with the prefrontal-parietal network. In children the brain mechanisms of top-down control have rarely been studied. We examined developmental differences in top-down cognitive control by monitoring event-related desynchronization (ERD) and event-related synchronization (ERS) of alpha-band oscillatory activity (8-13. Hz) during anticipation, target detection and post-response stages of a visual working memory task. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to record brain oscillatory activity from healthy 10-year-old children and young adults performing the Categorical N-Back Task (CNBT). Neuropsychological measures assessing frontal lobe networks were also acquired. Whereas adults showed a modulation of the ERD at the anticipatory stages of CNBT and ERS at the post-response stage, children displayed only some anticipatory modulation of ERD but no ERS at the post-response stage, with alpha-band remaining at a desynchronized state. Since neuropsychological and prior neuroimaging findings indicate that the prefrontal-parietal networks are not fully developed in 10-year olds, and since the children performed as well as the adults on CNBT and yet displayed different patterns of ERD/ERS, we suggest that children may be using different top-down cognitive strategies and, hence, different, developmentally apt neuronal networks.
AB - Top-down cognitive control has been associated in adults with the prefrontal-parietal network. In children the brain mechanisms of top-down control have rarely been studied. We examined developmental differences in top-down cognitive control by monitoring event-related desynchronization (ERD) and event-related synchronization (ERS) of alpha-band oscillatory activity (8-13. Hz) during anticipation, target detection and post-response stages of a visual working memory task. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to record brain oscillatory activity from healthy 10-year-old children and young adults performing the Categorical N-Back Task (CNBT). Neuropsychological measures assessing frontal lobe networks were also acquired. Whereas adults showed a modulation of the ERD at the anticipatory stages of CNBT and ERS at the post-response stage, children displayed only some anticipatory modulation of ERD but no ERS at the post-response stage, with alpha-band remaining at a desynchronized state. Since neuropsychological and prior neuroimaging findings indicate that the prefrontal-parietal networks are not fully developed in 10-year olds, and since the children performed as well as the adults on CNBT and yet displayed different patterns of ERD/ERS, we suggest that children may be using different top-down cognitive strategies and, hence, different, developmentally apt neuronal networks.
KW - Cognitive development
KW - Dorsal visual cortical network
KW - Magnetoencephalography
KW - Top-down control of alpha-band activity
KW - Visual Categorical N-Back Task
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.08.006
DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.08.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 20713071
AN - SCOPUS:77957323597
SN - 0028-3932
VL - 48
SP - 3573
EP - 3579
JO - Neuropsychologia
JF - Neuropsychologia
IS - 12
ER -