3-180 - Intersecting motor and cognitive development: Insight from functional correlates of sensorimotor neural rhythms across development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

More than motions through space, actions are linked to cognitive constructs like conceptual knowledge of the action, and the internal mental states that motivate it (e.g., intentions, desires). However, how motor and cognitive development intersect is not well understood: open questions concern (1) the mechanisms by which humans come to understand and interpret others’ actions, and (2) how experience in both executing and observing actions might facilitate this understanding. Sensorimotor neural rhythms, assessed with the electroencephalogram (EEG), could illuminate mechanisms supporting motor development and its interaction with cognition. Yet, functional correlates of these rhythms, particularly in the developmental context, are also little understood. Three papers explore functional correlates of sensorimotor EEG rhythms (mu and beta) across development. The first examines how passive versus active action experience (i.e., in executing one’s own actions) influences sensorimotor neural activity in children and adults, raising questions about the role of experience in different developmental contexts. The second extends investigation to include infants as well as children and adults, examining the potentially co-acting influences of active action experience and conceptual knowledge on sensorimotor neural activity. The third examines how experience in not only executing actions but also mentally representing actions is associated with children’s sensorimotor neural activity, demonstrating how action constructs could contribute to children’s theory-of-mind. Together, these papers uncover novel functional correlates of sensorimotor EEG rhythms that illuminate important intersections between motor and cognitive development. Developmental continuity and change in EEG functional correlates, and in relationships between motor and cognitive constructs, will be discussed.

Sub Unit

• Biology and Neuroscience

Chairs

• Lindsay C. Bowman, University of California, Davis

• Kimberly Cuevas, University of Connecticut

Individual Presentations

• EEG sensorimotor rhythms and action experience during early childhood and adulthood - Presenting Author: Lauren J. Bryant, University of Connecticut; Kimberly Cuevas, University of Connecticut

• Sensitivity of EEG sensorimotor rhythms to motor and conceptual familiarity across development - Presenting Author: Sarah Gerson, Cardiff University; Marlene Meyer, Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, & Behaviour; Harold Bekkering, Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, & Behaviour; Sabine Hunnius, Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, & Behaviour

• Representational and social-cognitive correlates of children’s sensorimotor EEG: A novel model for theory of mind - Presenting Author: Lindsay C. Bowman, University of California, Davis; Samuel G. Thorpe, University of Maryland; Erin N. Cannon, University of Maryland, College Park; Elizabeth Redcay, University of Maryland; Nathan Fox, 3. Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland