Integrating high-density ERP and fMRI measures of face-elicited brain activity in 9–12-year-old children: An ERP source localization study

Abstract

Social information processing is a critical mechanism underlying children’s socio-emotional development. Central to this process are patterns of activation associated with one of our most salient socioemotional cues, the face. In this study, we obtained fMRI activation and high-density ERP source data evoked by parallel face dot-probe tasks from 9-to-12-year-old children. We then integrated the two modalities of data to explore the neural spatial-temporal dynamics of children’s face processing. Our results showed that the tomography of the ERP sources broadly corresponded with the fMRI activation evoked by the same facial stimuli. Further, we combined complementary information from fMRI and ERP by defining fMRI activation as functional ROIs and applying them to the ERP source data. Indices of ERP source activity were extracted from these ROIs at three a priori ERP peak latencies critical for face processing. We found distinct temporal patterns among the three time points across ROIs. The observed spatial-temporal profiles converge with a dual-system neural network model for face processing: a core system (including the occipito-temporal and parietal ROIs) supports the early visual analysis of facial features, and an extended system (including the paracentral, limbic, and prefrontal ROIs) processes the socio-emotional meaning gleaned and relayed by the core system. Our results for the first time illustrate the spatial validity of high-density source localization of ERP dot-probe data in children. By directly combining the two modalities of data, our findings provide a novel approach to understanding the spatial-temporal dynamics of face processing. This approach can be applied in future research to investigate different research questions in various study populations.

Attentional processes in typically developing children as revealed using brain event-related potentials and their source localization in Attention Network Test

“…However, this method has been used in previous source analysis studies and remains a better option than using adult templates for studies on children 61,62 . Further, by examining the spatial correspondence between high-density EEG/ERP source localization and fMRI activation in children 63,64 and individual level MRI-constrained EEG source localization 65 could help to more precise source localization.…”

Spectral parameterization for studying neurodevelopment: How and why

“…Example data come from a subsample of children ( N = 60, M age = 9.97 years, SD = 0.95; 55% female) recruited from central Pennsylvania for a study on behavioral inhibition and affect-biased attention. Descriptions of recruitment procedures and sample characteristics are published elsewhere ( Liu et al, 2019 , Liu et al, 2018 , Thai et al, 2016 ). Children and their parents provided assent and consent, respectively, for participation at the initial laboratory visit.…”

Annual Research Review: Developmental pathways linking early behavioral inhibition to later anxiety

“…When used in combination, however, their individual strengths synergize. fMRI analyses can be used to guide and constrain the localization of EEG signals (Liu, Bai, & P erez-Edgar, 2019), and new machine learning approaches can be used to identify common features across the two modalities (Cichy & Oliva, 2020). Future work in the characterization of anxietyrelevant neural circuitry will likely benefit from these multimodal approaches (Filippi, Valadez, Fox, & Pine, 2022).…”