Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA.
Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska Omaha, Omaha, NE, USA.
Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2021 Jun;49:100961. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100961. Epub 2021 May 7.
Selective attention processes are critical to everyday functioning and are known to develop through at least young adulthood. Although numerous investigations have studied the maturation of attention systems in the brain, these studies have largely focused on the spatial configuration of these systems; there is a paucity of research on the neural oscillatory dynamics serving selective attention, particularly among youth. Herein, we examined the developmental trajectory of neural oscillatory activity serving selective attention in 53 typically developing youth age 9-to-16 years-old. Participants completed the classic arrow-based flanker task during magnetoencephalography, and the resulting data were imaged in the time-frequency domain. Flanker interference significantly modulated theta and alpha/beta oscillations within prefrontal, mid-cingulate, cuneus, and occipital regions. Interference-related neural activity also increased with age in the temporoparietal junction and the rostral anterior cingulate. Sex-specific effects indicated that females had greater theta interference activity in the anterior insula, whereas males showed differential effects in theta and alpha/beta oscillations across frontoparietal regions. Finally, males showed age-related changes in alpha/beta interference in the cuneus and middle frontal gyrus, which predicted improved behavioral performance. Taken together, these data suggest sexually-divergent developmental trajectories underlying selective attention in youth.
选择性注意过程对于日常功能至关重要，并且已知其至少在成年早期发展。尽管许多研究都研究了大脑中注意力系统的成熟，但这些研究主要集中在这些系统的空间配置上；对于服务于选择性注意的神经振荡动力学的研究很少，特别是在年轻人中。在此，我们检查了 53 名典型发展的 9 至 16 岁青少年的选择性注意神经振荡活动的发展轨迹。参与者在脑磁图期间完成了经典的基于箭头的侧翼任务，并且由此产生的数据在时频域中成像。侧翼干扰在额前叶、中扣带回、楔前叶和枕叶区域显著调节了θ和α/β振荡。与干扰相关的神经活动也随着颞顶叶联合区和额前扣带回的年龄增长而增加。性别特异性效应表明，女性在前脑岛的θ干扰活动更大，而男性在额顶叶区域的θ和α/β振荡中表现出不同的效应。最后，男性在楔前叶和中额回的α/β干扰中表现出与年龄相关的变化，这预示着行为表现的改善。总的来说，这些数据表明在年轻人中，选择性注意的背后存在性别差异的发展轨迹。
