Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.
Dev Sci. 2025 Jan;28(1):e13582. doi: 10.1111/desc.13582.
Attentional control is key to the development of executive functions. Previous research indicates that individual differences in attentional control behaviour may be stable from 6 months. Here, we analyse electroencephalogram data collected from 59 6-month-olds to gain insights into the neural processes underlying attentional control in infancy. First, we examine the neural activity preceding distinct looking behaviours in an attentional control task at 6 months. Second, we test whether those neural markers show predictive associations to behavioural measures of attentional control (Freeze-Frame task) and executive function (A-not-B task) in the same infants at 9 months. Whilst our data do not show evidence that 6-9 Hz power is implicated in attentional control at 6 months, or that the P1 ERP component plays a role in our attentional control task, we do find evidence that corroborates and extends research linking 3-6 Hz power to attentional control. At the group level, frontal 3-6 Hz power recorded whilst looking to a central target before the onset of a peripheral distractor was greater during trials where infants subsequently looked to the distractor, compared with trials where they did not look. Higher 3-6 Hz power in trials where the infant did not look to a peripheral distractor was predictive of less distractibility at 9 months, and higher 3 Hz power in trials where infants did look to the distractor strengthened the predictive association from 6-month EEG to 9-month behaviour. We suggest 3-6 Hz activity may be sensitive to multiple processes, such as anticipatory attention, and the ability to maintain attention on a target.
注意力控制是执行功能发展的关键。先前的研究表明，注意力控制行为的个体差异可能在 6 个月时就稳定下来。在这里，我们分析了从 59 名 6 个月大的婴儿收集的脑电图数据，以深入了解婴儿期注意力控制的神经过程。首先，我们在 6 个月时的注意力控制任务中检查了在不同注视行为之前的神经活动。其次，我们测试了这些神经标记物是否与 9 个月大的同一婴儿的注意力控制（冻结帧任务）和执行功能（A 不 B 任务）的行为测量具有预测关联。虽然我们的数据没有表明 6-9 Hz 功率与 6 个月时的注意力控制有关，或者 P1 ERP 成分在我们的注意力控制任务中起作用，但我们确实发现了证据，证明了将 3-6 Hz 功率与注意力控制联系起来的研究是相互印证和扩展的。在群体水平上，在中央目标之前记录的额叶 3-6 Hz 功率在随后看向分心物的试验中大于没有看向分心物的试验。在婴儿没有看向外周分心物的试验中，3-6 Hz 功率较高与 9 个月时的分心能力降低有关，而在婴儿确实看向分心物的试验中 3 Hz 功率较高则增强了从 6 个月脑电图到 9 个月行为的预测关联。我们认为 3-6 Hz 活动可能对多种过程敏感，例如预期注意力和维持对目标的注意力的能力。
