Schmidgen Julia, Heinen Theresa, Konrad Kerstin, Bender Stephan
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Cologne, University Hospital Cologne, Germany.
Section Child Neuropsychology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, RWTH, University Hospital, Aachen, Germany; JARA-BRAIN Institute II, Molecular Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and RWTH Aachen University, Germany.
Neuroimage. 2024 Aug 15;297:120735. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120735. Epub 2024 Jul 14.
The motor system undergoes significant development throughout childhood and adolescence. The contingent negative variation (CNV), a brain response reflecting preparation for upcoming actions, offers valuable insights into these changes. However, previous CNV studies of motor preparation have primarily focused on adults, leaving a gap in our understanding of how cortical activity related to motor planning and execution matures in children and adolescents.
The study addresses this gap by investigating the maturation of motor preparation, pre-activation, and post-processing in 46 healthy, right-handed children and adolescents aged 5-16 years. To overcome the resolution limitations of previous studies, we combined 64-electrode high-density Electroencephalography (EEG) and advanced analysis techniques, such as event-related potentials (ERPs), mu-rhythm desynchronization as well as source localization approaches. The combined analyses provided an in-depth understanding of cortical activity during motor control.
Our data showed that children exhibited prolonged reaction times, increased errors, and a distinct pattern of cortical activation compared to adolescents. The findings suggest that the supplementary motor area (SMA) plays a progressively stronger role in motor planning and response evaluation as children age. Additionally, we observe a decrease in sensory processing and post-movement activity with development, potentially reflecting increased efficiency. Interestingly, adolescent subjects, unlike young adults in previous studies, did not yet show contralateral activation of motor areas during the motor preparation phase (late CNV).
The progressive increase in SMA activation and distinct cortical activation patterns in younger participants suggest immature motor areas. These immature regions might be a primary cause underlying the age-related increase in motor action control efficiency. Additionally, the study demonstrates a prolonged maturation of cortical motor areas, extending well into early adulthood, challenging the assumption that motor control is fully developed by late adolescence. This research, extending fundamental knowledge of motor control development, offers valuable insights that lay the foundation for understanding and treating motor control difficulties.
运动系统在整个童年和青少年时期经历显著发育。关联性负变（CNV）是一种反映对即将到来的动作进行准备的大脑反应，为这些变化提供了有价值的见解。然而，先前关于运动准备的CNV研究主要集中在成年人身上，这使得我们对儿童和青少年中与运动计划和执行相关的皮层活动如何成熟缺乏了解。
本研究通过调查46名年龄在5至16岁的健康右利手儿童和青少年的运动准备、预激活和后处理的成熟情况来填补这一空白。为了克服先前研究的分辨率限制，我们结合了64电极高密度脑电图（EEG）和先进的分析技术，如事件相关电位（ERP）、μ节律去同步化以及源定位方法。综合分析深入了解了运动控制过程中的皮层活动。
我们的数据显示，与青少年相比，儿童的反应时间延长、错误增加，并且皮层激活模式不同。研究结果表明，随着儿童年龄增长，辅助运动区（SMA）在运动计划和反应评估中发挥着越来越重要的作用。此外，我们观察到随着发育，感觉处理和运动后活动减少，这可能反映了效率的提高。有趣的是，与先前研究中的年轻人不同，青少年受试者在运动准备阶段（晚期CNV）尚未表现出运动区域的对侧激活。
较年轻参与者中SMA激活的逐渐增加和独特的皮层激活模式表明运动区域不成熟。这些不成熟区域可能是与年龄相关的运动动作控制效率提高的主要原因。此外，该研究表明皮层运动区域的成熟过程延长，一直持续到成年早期，这挑战了运动控制在青春期后期就已完全发育的假设。这项研究扩展了运动控制发育的基础知识，提供了有价值的见解，为理解和治疗运动控制困难奠定了基础。
