ICA-derived cortical responses indexing rapid multi-feature auditory processing in six-month-old infants

Abstract

The abilities of infants to perceive basic acoustic differences, essential for language development, can be studied using auditory event-related potentials (ERPs). However, scalp-channel averaged ERPs sum volume-conducted contributions from many cortical areas, reducing the functional specificity and interpretability of channel-based ERP measures. This study represents the first attempt to investigate rapid auditory processing in infancy using independent component analysis (ICA), allowing exploration of source-resolved ERP dynamics and identification of ERP cortical generators. Here, we recorded 60-channel EEG data in 34 typically developing 6-month-old infants during a passive acoustic oddball paradigm presenting ‘standard’ tones interspersed with frequency-or duration-deviant tones. ICA decomposition was applied to single-subject EEG data. The best-fitting equivalent dipole or bilaterally symmetric dipole pair was then estimated for each resulting independent component (IC) process using a four-layer infant head model. Similar brain-source ICs were clustered across subjects. Results showed ERP contributions from auditory cortex and multiple extra-auditory cortical areas (often, bilaterally paired). Different cortical source combinations contributed to the frequency- and duration-deviant ERP peak sequences. For ICs in an ERP-dominant source cluster located in or near the mid-cingulate cortex, source-resolved frequency-deviant response N2 latency and P3 amplitude at 6 months-of-age predicted vocabulary size at 20 months-of-age. The same measures for scalp channel F6 (though not for other frontal channels) showed similar but weaker correlations. These results demonstrate the significant potential of ICA analyses to facilitate a deeper understanding of the neural substrates of infant sensory processing.

Precuneus Failures in Subjects of the PSEN1 E280A Family at Risk of Developing Alzheimer’s Disease Detected Using Quantitative Electroencephalography

“…The use of independent component analysis (ICA) in EEG has evolved from a technique oriented to help in artifact detection and correction [76,77], to identify neural process and biomarkers [27,33,78,79]. Using recordings obtained at rest in 144 subjects, Congedo et al [80] reported seven sources distributed across the cortex, where three of them were also related to the Precuneus, that would serve to assessment and diagnosis of abnormal brain functioning.…”

Reduced premovement positivity during the stimulus‐response interval precedes errors: Using single‐trial and regression ERPs to understand performance deficits in ADHD

“…To compensate for the low dimensionality inherent to dipole coordinates and increase their influence on the k ‐means solution, clustering dimensions corresponding to dipole coordinates were multiplied by a factor of five (cf. Gramann et al, ; Piazza et al, ; Rapela et al, ).…”

EEG Effective Source Projections Are More Bilaterally Symmetric in Infants Than in Adults

“…In our previous EEG study (Piazza et al, 2016b) of the cortical correlates of multi-feature rapid auditory processing in 6-monthold infants, decomposition by independent component analysis (ICA) of the whole EEG records identified the presence of a relatively large number of near bilaterally symmetric independent component (IC) processes indicating a bilaterally synchronous cortical activity (Piazza et al, 2016a). The present report aims to better investigate bilateral synchronicity by comparing infant and adult EEG data recorded using the same protocol, to assess whether brain EEG activity in infants may indeed exhibit more bilateral synchronicity at the cortical effective source level than in the adult brain.…”

“…Thirty-four typically developing infants (16 males and 18 females; age in months M = 6.4, SD = 0.4) were included in the present study. The infant group is the same that took part in the study presented in Piazza et al (2016b). Infants were included in the study if: (1) both parents were native-Italian speakers, (2) gestational age was ≥ 37 weeks, (3) birth-weight was ≥ 2500 g, (4) APGAR scores at birth at 1'and at 5'were ≥ 8, (5) infants did not have a history of hearing impairments and passed the hearing screening at birth, (6) infants and their first-degree relatives did not have certified diagnosis of neurodevelopmental or neurological disorders, and (7) the cognitive subscale of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (Bayley, 1993) was ≥ 7.…”