Age and sex modulate the variability of neural responses to naturalistic videos

Abstract

Neural development is generally marked by an increase in the efficiency and diversity of neural processes. In a large sample (N = 114) of children and adults with ages ranging from 5 -44 years, we investigated the neural responses to naturalistic video stimuli. Videos from both real-life classroom settings and Hollywood feature films were used to probe different aspects of attention and engagement. For all stimuli, older ages were marked by more variable neural responses. Variability was assessed by the inter-subject correlation of evoked electroencephalographic (EEG) responses.Young males also had more variable responses than young females. These results were replicated in an independent cohort (N = 303). When interpreted in the context of neural maturation, we conclude that neural function becomes more variable with maturity, at least in during the passive viewing of real-world stimuli. Significance StatementNaturalistic videos were used to measure how a large sample of children and adults process environmentally meaningful stimuli. As age increased, neural responses were more variable, and females responded more variably than males -a difference that disappeared with age. These results are consistent with developmental theories positing that neural variability increases with maturation, and that neural maturation typically occurs earlier in females. This is the first study to investigate neural variability under naturalistic conditions in a developmental sample.

A Wireless Multifunctional SSVEP-Based Brain–Computer Interface Assistive System

“…Fifteen healthy subjects (thirteen males and two females, overall mean age 23 ± 2.3 years) with normal or corrected-tonormal vision were recruited to participate in the SSVEP experiments, and three of them were invited again for online feasibility test. As we focus more on system integration and usability in current stage of this research, we did not control sex and age factors as other research did [27] when selection participants. None of the subjects had a history of neurological or psychological disorders such as migraine or epilepsy.…”

Developmental differences in the perception of naturalistic human movements

“…Notably, the videos were presented in a silent mode, because the participants were simultaneously presented with a non-attended auditory oddball stimuli, the results of which will be separately reported elsewhere. Although performing distracting tasks while watching videos has been found to diminish neural synchronization of the subjects (Cohen et al, 2018), the motor-related visual information could be retrieved by the participants even under the potential distraction caused by the oddball task. Notably, the oddball task was not consistent across videos or participants, eliminating the possibility that the oddball task has confounded the data presented in this article.…”

“…Earlier research suggests that electroencephalography (EEG) ISC covaries with the attentional state of the subjects, with attentionally engaging videos increasing the ISC of EEG responses (Dmochowski et al, 2012;Cohen and Parra, 2016;Ki et al, 2016). Interestingly, younger individuals have been found to exhibit higher ISC (Petroni et al, 2018).…”

Exploring age-related changes in inter-brain synchrony during verbal communication

“…Crucially, individual differences and contextual factors may mediate these factors (Bevilacqua et al, 2019;Dumas et al, 2012;Goldstein et al, 2018a;Lee et al, 2017;Petroni et al, 2017). For example, personality traits and (social) engagement are linked to inter-brain coupling (Bevilacqua et al, 2019;Cohen et al, 2017;Czeszumski et al, 2020;Goldstein et al, 2018b;Ki et al, 2016;Petroni et al, 2017), as are the nature and quality of the dyadic relationship.…”

“…Crucially, individual differences and contextual factors may mediate these factors (Bevilacqua et al, 2019;Dumas et al, 2012;Goldstein et al, 2018a;Lee et al, 2017;Petroni et al, 2017). For example, personality traits and (social) engagement are linked to inter-brain coupling (Bevilacqua et al, 2019;Cohen et al, 2017;Czeszumski et al, 2020;Goldstein et al, 2018b;Ki et al, 2016;Petroni et al, 2017), as are the nature and quality of the dyadic relationship. Social closeness has been shown to affect inter-brain coupling in a number of studies, even within groups or dyads who know each other well (Bevilacqua et al, 2019;Dikker et al, 2021;Parkinson et al, 2018), and some researchers report categorical differences in inter-brain coupling as a function of the nature of the relationship.…”