Better with age: Developmental changes in oscillatory activity during verbal working memory encoding and maintenance
Numerous investigations have characterized the oscillatory dynamics serving working memory in adults, but few have probed its relationship with chronological age in developing youth. We recorded magnetoencephalography during a modified Sternberg verbal working memory task in 82 youth participants ag...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187892932400015X |
| _version_ | 1797198762914873344 |
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| author | Abraham D. Killanin Thomas W. Ward Christine M. Embury Vince D. Calhoun Yu-Ping Wang Julia M. Stephen Giorgia Picci Elizabeth Heinrichs-Graham Tony W. Wilson |
| author_facet | Abraham D. Killanin Thomas W. Ward Christine M. Embury Vince D. Calhoun Yu-Ping Wang Julia M. Stephen Giorgia Picci Elizabeth Heinrichs-Graham Tony W. Wilson |
| author_sort | Abraham D. Killanin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Numerous investigations have characterized the oscillatory dynamics serving working memory in adults, but few have probed its relationship with chronological age in developing youth. We recorded magnetoencephalography during a modified Sternberg verbal working memory task in 82 youth participants aged 6–14 years old. Significant oscillatory responses were identified and imaged using a beamforming approach and the resulting whole-brain maps were probed for developmental effects during the encoding and maintenance phases. Our results indicated robust oscillatory responses in the theta (4–7 Hz) and alpha (8–14 Hz) range, with older participants exhibiting stronger alpha oscillations in left-hemispheric language regions. Older participants also had greater occipital theta power during encoding. Interestingly, there were sex-by-age interaction effects in cerebellar cortices during encoding and in the right superior temporal region during maintenance. These results extend the existing literature on working memory development by showing strong associations between age and oscillatory dynamics across a distributed network. To our knowledge, these findings are the first to link chronological age to alpha and theta oscillatory responses serving working memory encoding and maintenance, both across and between male and female youth; they reveal robust developmental effects in crucial brain regions serving higher order functions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T04:50:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-11fc0a6ba9b348d9864596130e577813 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1878-9293 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T07:05:01Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-11fc0a6ba9b348d9864596130e5778132024-04-22T04:11:34ZengElsevierDevelopmental Cognitive Neuroscience1878-92932024-04-0166101354Better with age: Developmental changes in oscillatory activity during verbal working memory encoding and maintenanceAbraham D. Killanin0Thomas W. Ward1Christine M. Embury2Vince D. Calhoun3Yu-Ping Wang4Julia M. Stephen5Giorgia Picci6Elizabeth Heinrichs-Graham7Tony W. Wilson8Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Pediatric Brain Health, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USAInstitute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Pediatric Brain Health, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USAInstitute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Pediatric Brain Health, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USATri-Institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USADepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USAMind Research Network, Albuquerque, NM, USAInstitute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Pediatric Brain Health, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USAInstitute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Pediatric Brain Health, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USAInstitute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Pediatric Brain Health, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA; Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA; Correspondence to: Institute for Human Neuroscience, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA.Numerous investigations have characterized the oscillatory dynamics serving working memory in adults, but few have probed its relationship with chronological age in developing youth. We recorded magnetoencephalography during a modified Sternberg verbal working memory task in 82 youth participants aged 6–14 years old. Significant oscillatory responses were identified and imaged using a beamforming approach and the resulting whole-brain maps were probed for developmental effects during the encoding and maintenance phases. Our results indicated robust oscillatory responses in the theta (4–7 Hz) and alpha (8–14 Hz) range, with older participants exhibiting stronger alpha oscillations in left-hemispheric language regions. Older participants also had greater occipital theta power during encoding. Interestingly, there were sex-by-age interaction effects in cerebellar cortices during encoding and in the right superior temporal region during maintenance. These results extend the existing literature on working memory development by showing strong associations between age and oscillatory dynamics across a distributed network. To our knowledge, these findings are the first to link chronological age to alpha and theta oscillatory responses serving working memory encoding and maintenance, both across and between male and female youth; they reveal robust developmental effects in crucial brain regions serving higher order functions.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187892932400015X |
| spellingShingle | Abraham D. Killanin Thomas W. Ward Christine M. Embury Vince D. Calhoun Yu-Ping Wang Julia M. Stephen Giorgia Picci Elizabeth Heinrichs-Graham Tony W. Wilson Better with age: Developmental changes in oscillatory activity during verbal working memory encoding and maintenance Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience |
| title | Better with age: Developmental changes in oscillatory activity during verbal working memory encoding and maintenance |
| title_full | Better with age: Developmental changes in oscillatory activity during verbal working memory encoding and maintenance |
| title_fullStr | Better with age: Developmental changes in oscillatory activity during verbal working memory encoding and maintenance |
| title_full_unstemmed | Better with age: Developmental changes in oscillatory activity during verbal working memory encoding and maintenance |
| title_short | Better with age: Developmental changes in oscillatory activity during verbal working memory encoding and maintenance |
| title_sort | better with age developmental changes in oscillatory activity during verbal working memory encoding and maintenance |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187892932400015X |
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