Microstate Analysis in Infancy

Kara Lea Brown

doi:10.7273/000003336

The infant brain undergoes significant foundational and structural growth in the first year of life that has lasting impacts on the adult brain (Gilmore, Knickmeyer, & Gao, 2018). It has become evident that functional networks, rather than isolated structures, are what drive cognition (Biswal et al., 1995; Raichle et al., 2001). Additionally, the resting state has emerged as a complex cognitive phenomenon. These major shifts in neuroscientific paradigms have led to much research in connectivity and global brain networks. Most of the research has examined this global connectivity using fMRI. However, there are limitations that accompany fMRI, such as lack of temporal resolution and required stillness, that impact the ability to examine connective networks, especially in infancy. Electroencephalography (EEG) provides answers to these limitations, as EEG has superior temporal specificity and has less importance in remaining completely motionless, allowing for greater ecological validity. EEG also has the capability to examine both local and global aspects of brain activity. Microstate analysis is an emerging method for investigating global connections. Microstates have been colloquially referred to as the “atom of thought,” meaning that from these underlying resting-state microstates comes cognition and neural processing (Lehmann et al., 1998). The present study examines microstates across the second half of the first year of life, at 6, 8, and 10 months of age. It is hypothesized that infants will show distinct microstates that can be compared to previous adult literature. In addition to microstate topography, two-way mixed methods analysis of variance will be used to compare microstate parameters (duration, frequency, coverage, and amplitude) across microstate topographies within each age group and across the three age groups. This line of research could act as a foundation for microstates research across the lifespan and is necessary to understand their emergence and the underlying resting state networks. Upon this foundation, many questions can be answered regarding connective states in infancy that would be impossible with currently utilized methods, such as stimulus tasks and a wakeful resting state.

Microstate Analysis in Infancy

Files and links (1)

Abstract

Metrics

Details