Development of EEG connectivity from preschool to school-age children

Jiannan Kang; Wenqin Mao; Juanmei Wu; Xinping Huang; Manuel F Casanova; Estate M Sokhadze; Xiaoli Li; Xinling Geng

doi:10.3389/fnins.2023.1277786

Development of EEG connectivity from preschool to school-age children

Front Neurosci. 2024 Jan 11:17:1277786. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1277786. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jiannan Kang¹, Wenqin Mao¹, Juanmei Wu¹, Xinping Huang¹, Manuel F Casanova², Estate M Sokhadze^{2

3}, Xiaoli Li⁴, Xinling Geng⁵

Affiliations

¹ Child Rehabilitation Division, Ningbo Rehabilitation Hospital, Ningbo, China.
² Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville Campus, Prisma Health System, Greenville, SC, United States.
³ Duke University, Durham, NC, United States.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
⁵ School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Many studies have collected normative developmental EEG data to better understand brain function in early life and associated changes during both aging and pathology. Higher cognitive functions of the brain do not normally stem from the workings of a single brain region that works but, rather, on the interaction between different brain regions. In this regard studying the connectivity between brain regions is of great importance towards understanding higher cognitive functions and its underlying mechanisms.

Methods: In this study, EEG data of children (N = 253; 3-10 years old; 113 females, 140 males) from pre-school to schoolage was collected, and the weighted phase delay index and directed transfer function method was used to find the electrophysiological indicators of both functional connectivity and effective connectivity. A general linear model was built between the indicators and age, and the change trend of electrophysiological indicators analyzed for age.

Results: The results showed an age trend for the functional and effective connectivity of the brain of children.

Discussion: The results are of importance in understanding normative brain development and in defining those conditions that deviate from typical growth trajectories.

Keywords: EEG; brain development; children; effective connectivity; functional connectivity.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was funded in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China (62001153).