Patterns of neural oscillations associated with proactive control in children and adults

• In Event: A Neuroscientific Perspective on Key Transitions in the Development of Cognitive Control

Abstract

As children grow older, they engage cognitive control more proactively. Specifically, unlike preschoolers who tend to reactively engage control as needed in the moment, older children and adults proactively prepare for upcoming events whenever possible (e.g., Chatham et al., 2009), a more mature and efficient approach. Similarly, children can engage cognitive control more self-directedly with age, as they require less environmental support to determine when and how to engage control (e.g., Frick et al., 2022). In adults, neural oscillations in the delta (2-3 Hz), theta (4-7 Hz), and alpha (8-12 Hz) frequency bands, which provide mediums for neural communication within and across cognitive control networks (e.g., Cavanagh & Frank, 2014), contribute to proactive control engagement (e.g., McKewen et al., 2020; Murphy et al., 2016). However, little is known about their role in childhood and how it may change with self-directedness. To fill this gap, we used EEG to examine neural oscillations as children and adults engaged proactive control in an externally-driven fashion (Study 1) or self-directedly (Study 2).

In Study 1, 6-year-olds (n=27), 9-year-olds (n=27), and adults (n=30) completed a cued task-switching paradigm in which they switched between colour- and shape-matching rules as a function of a visual task cue (externally-driven control). The task cue was presented either ahead of target onset, hence allowing proactive control, or on target onset, hence forcing reactive control. All age groups showed greater midfrontal and posterior theta power before target onset when proactive control was possible. Further, they all showed greater centroparietal alpha suppression on switch than no-switch trials, although centroparietal alpha suppression associated with proactive control was greater in adults than children. Finally, centroparietal alpha suppression, but not theta power, predicted response times.

In Study 2, 6-year-olds (n=24), 9-year-olds (n=27), and adults (n=27) completed a voluntary task-switching paradigm in which they decided on their own (i.e., without any task cues) when to switch between the matching rules (self-directed control). In one condition, environmental support helped participants visualise the tasks they previously performed, whereas no such support was provided in the other condition. All age groups showed greater centroparietal alpha suppression on switch than no-switch trials before target onset (as in Study 1), suggesting proactive control engagement. Additionally, greater latero-frontal delta and theta power was observed on switch than no-switch trials in all age groups, although power was greater and varied more as a function of trial type and environmental support in adults than children.

Together, the findings point to centroparietal alpha suppression, which potentially reflects attention refocussing and/or motor preparation, as a main correlate of proactive control in both children and adults, regardless of whether task-switching is externally driven or self-directed. In contrast, diverging patterns of delta/theta oscillations likely reflect processes specific to externally-driven (e.g., cue-based task selection) or self-directed (e.g., context tracking) proactive control engagement. Importantly, these oscillatory patterns were more pronounced in adults than children, likely contributing to the growing efficiency of proactive control with age.

Authors

• Nicolas Chevalier, University of Edinburgh
  Presenting Author

• Aurélien Frick, Université de Liège, Belgium

• Yuko Munakata, University of California - Davis