Coherence Dynamics in the EEG Rhythms during the Observation of Pro- and Antisocial Behavior in Children at an Early Age

Abstract

In children aged 17–43 months (mean age 31 months), who differently evaluated pro- and antisocial actions performed by puppet characters (groups with high and low indices of moral evaluation – IME), there have been revealed the group-specific changes in the coherence of EEG activity in each group. In high IME children, the observation of a prosocial action facilitated intrahemispheric interactions in the α-frequency range. In the low IME group, changes in α-rhythm coherence were multidirectional. In the high IME group, the situation of decision making on how to distribute the reward between the two characters who demonstrated either pro- or antisocial behavior evoked an increase in α-activity coherence between the frontal, central, parietal and occipital regions in the right hemisphere. In the low IME children, on the contrary, it decreased. No significant modulations of the EEG coherence in θ-frequency range have been revealed. For β-activity, significant modulations were found only in children with low IME. The obtained findings are discussed in the context of the functionality of the brain control systems and the role of intrahemispheric cortical interconnections in moral behavior organization.