Selective Neural Entrainment & Dynamic Attention in Infants

Brain activity is organized in rhythms, so called neuronal oscillations. Recent neuroscience research with adults has revealed that we are able to tune our rhythmic brain activities selectively to the rhythm of relevant stimuli. Similar to a radio tuned to a specific frequency band, we are thus able to track and predict incoming information. Thus we can optimize processing of dynamically attended input and tune out irrelevant signals. Meanwhile, our understanding of the function of neuronal oscillations in infancy and their role for the development of attention control is still highly limited. In this project, we will use electroencephalography (EEG) to test whether infants at six and twelve months of age are already able to dynamically attend to task-relevant rhythmic stimulus streams. In longitudinal follow- up assessments, we will test whether infants early ability to entrain to relevant rhythmic stimuli relates to their later cognitive outcomes. Specifically, individual differences in infants ability to selectively tune their oscillatory brain activities to relevant sensory rhythms are expected to relate to their later cognitive performance, attention control, and language skills. Babies who are particularly good at tuning in to relevant stimuli and ignoring irrelevant information should find it easier to learn. We further expect that functional connectivity, i.e. effective communication, between prefrontal and sensory brain areas will increase with age and that it will be associated with infants dynamic attending and cognitive functioning. The project will utilize innovative methodology to study cognitive development in relation to functional brain development in infancy and thus open up a range of new research perspectives for the field. We will gain insights on how fundamental cognitive processes such as selective attention relate to infants ability to entrain neuronal oscillations to external rhythms. By studying long-term consequences of infants individual differences in selective entrainment, we will lay the groundwork for advancing our understanding of typical and atypical cognitive development.