Poster No:
942
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Jake Son1, Caroline Howard2, Elizabeth Santos3, Abraham Killanin1, Mikki Schantell1, Thomas Ward1, Grace Ende1, Danielle Rice1, Anna Coutant1, Giorgia Picci1, Tony Wilson1
Institutions:
1Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town, NE, 2Duke University, Durham, NC, 3St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX
First Author:
Jake Son
Institute for Human Neuroscience
Boys Town, NE
Co-Author(s):
Thomas Ward
Institute for Human Neuroscience
Boys Town, NE
Grace Ende
Institute for Human Neuroscience
Boys Town, NE
Tony Wilson
Institute for Human Neuroscience
Boys Town, NE
Introduction:
Executive functioning refers to the processes that allow one to monitor environmental cues and flexibly adapt behavior to facilitate the attainment of specific tasks. Selective attention provides the scaffolding necessary for the acquisition and refinement of executive function and is known to emerge in early childhood with a protracted developmental trajectory. Alterations in selective attention have been tied to numerous forms of psychopathology, including ADHD, anxiety, and depression [1-3]. A better understanding how executive functions emerge in typically developing youth will provide critical insights into the neurobiological correlates of executive dysregulation, which presents transdiagnostically across mental health disorders. Herein, we investigate age-related changes in the neural oscillatory dynamics serving executive function in a sample of youth using magnetoencephalographic (MEG) imaging.
Methods:
MEG data were collected from 78 children and adolescents (ages 11-16; Mean = 12.78; SD = 1.17; 43 males) using a 306-sensor MEGIN Neo MEG system (Helsinki, Finland) equipped with 306 sensors (204 planar-gradiometers, 102 magnetometers) using a 1 kHz sampling rate and an acquisition bandwidth of 0.1-330Hz in a two-layer magnetically shielded room.
During MEG, participants completed a 15-minute executive function task designed to probe perceptual decision-making. At the beginning of each trial, participants were presented with a centrally-presented fixation cross, followed by the presentation of a set of three images. The "target" object was presented above the fixation crosshair, while the two remaining objects were presented below the fixation. Participants were instructed to respond whether the left object (1, index finger) or right object (2, middle finger) matched the target in either shape or pattern. A total of 200 pseudorandomized trials were completed by each participant.
Structural co-registration, preprocessing, and sensor/source-level analyses have been described in greater detail in previously reported pipelines [4-5]. Briefly, artifact-free epochs of MEG data were transformed into the time-frequency domain and evaluated for clusters of time-frequency bins that differed from the baseline, using a stringent two-stage statistical approach. Significant responses at the sensor level were source imaged using the dynamic imaging of coherent sources (DICS) beamformer, using task and baseline periods of equal duration and bandwidth [6]. These images were subject to whole-brain correlation analyses with age to determine brain regions that were developmentally sensitive in the context of the executive functioning task.
Results:
Sensor-level analyses revealed significant alpha (12 – 18 Hz, 1350 – 1750 ms) and gamma (72 – 90 Hz, 100 – 250 ms) oscillatory responses during the executive functioning task across all trials and participants. These time-frequency windows were imaged in each participant and the voxel-wise whole-brain images were then correlated with age per response. In the alpha band, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) were significantly correlated with age (p < .005), such that weaker oscillations (i.e., less negative relative to baseline) were observed in older participants. In the gamma band, activity within the left prefrontal cortex, supramarginal gyrus, and superior parietal cortex decreased with age (p < .005).
Conclusions:
The present work demonstrates the developmental sensitivity of the neural dynamics underlying executive function in brain regions serving higher-order cognition (i.e., ACC, PFC). These regions are known to be critical components of intrinsic connectivity networks (e.g., salience / frontoparietal networks) that change significantly throughout development [7-8]. These findings also contribute to the growing literature examining the spectral, temporal, and regional specificity of neurodevelopmental effects during a critical window in an executive functioning task.
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Executive Function, Cognitive Control and Decision Making 1
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
MEG 2
Keywords:
Development
ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY
MEG
PEDIATRIC
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
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