Developmental Changes in Infant Brain Activity During Naturalistic Social Experiences

Overview

Journal Dev Psychobiol

Specialties Pediatrics
Psychiatry
Psychology

Date 2015 Jul 30

PMID 26219834

Citations 44

Authors

Emily J H Jones

Kaitlin Venema

Rachel Lowy

Rachel K Earl

Sara Jane Webb

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Between 6 and 12 months, typically developing infants undergo a socio-cognitive "revolution." The Interactive Specialization (IS) theory of brain development predicts that these behavioral changes will be underpinned by developmental increases in the power and topographic extent of socially selective cortical responses. To test this hypothesis, we used EEG to examine developmental changes in cortical selectivity for ecologically valid dynamic social versus non-social stimuli in a large cohort of 6- and 12-month-old infants. Consistent with the Interactive Specialization model, results showed that differences in EEG Θ activity between social and non-social stimuli became more pronounced and widespread with age. Differences in EEG activity were most clearly elicited by a live naturalistic interaction, suggesting that measuring brain activity in ecologically valid contexts is central to mapping social brain development in infancy.

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