Abstract
We reanalyzed, modeled and simulated Event-Related Potential (ERP) data from 13 healthy children (Mean age = 5.12, Standard Deviation = 0.75) during a computerized visual sustained target detection task. Extending an ERP-based ACT–R (Adaptive Control of Thought–Rational) neurocognitive modeling approach, we tested whether visual sustained selective-set attention in preschool children involves the enhancement of neural response to targets, and it shows key adult-like features (neurofunctional homology). Blinded automatic peaks analysis was conducted on vincentized binned grand ERP averages. Time-course and distribution of scalp activity were detailed through topographic mapping and paths analysis. Reaction times and accuracy were also measured. Adult Magnetic Resonance Imaging-based mapping using ACT–R dipole source modeling and electric-field spiking simulation provided very good fit with the actual ERP data (R2 > 0.70). In most electrodes, between 50 and 400 ms, ERPs concurrent with target presentation were enhanced relative to distractor, without manual response confounds. Triangulation of peak analysis, ACT–R modeling and simulation for the entire ERP epochs up to the moment of manual response (~700 ms, on average) suggested converging evidence of distinct but interacting processes of enhancement and planning for response release/inhibition, respectively. The latter involved functions and structures consistent with adult ERP activity which might correspond to a large-scale network, implicating Dorsal and Ventral Attentional Networks, corticostriatal loops, and subcortical hubs connected to prefrontal cortex top-down working memory executive control. Although preliminary, the present approach suggests novel directions for further tests and falsifiable hypotheses on the origins and development of visual selective attention and their ERP correlates.
Highlights
Relative to goal-directed actions, selective-set is a mechanism of selective attention which underlies the ability of detecting task-relevant target information while ignoring irrelevant information within a sequence of stimuli [1]
In Event-Related Potential (ERP) studies, predominantly in the auditory modality, larger amplitudes of the N2 with (200–300 ms) component have been found for successful responses to no-go trials compared to go trials, which are similar to those found in adults [6,7,8]
In the third part of the study, we extended an ERP-based neurocognitive modeling approach to test the extent to which: 1) The pattern and timing of the preschoolers’ actual ERP responses to target and distractor could be explained by a simulated adult model of ERP activity; and 2) the dipoles estimated from preschool children’s ERP activity could approximate the adult spatiotemporal simulation of estimated ERP generators
Summary
Relative to goal-directed actions (manifested with behavioral responses), selective-set (as defined by Kahneman and Triesman [1]) is a mechanism of selective attention which underlies the ability of detecting task-relevant target information while ignoring (temporally simultaneous or separate) irrelevant information within a sequence of stimuli [1]. Brain Sci. 2020, 10, 124 speed and accuracy of behavioral response generally improve with age (for review see [2]), and one consistently replicated finding is a sharp developmental transition observed in children between. 3 and 5 years of age—he developmental period usually known as “preschool”. This transition is often implied as a critical period for detailing neurofunctional mapping [3,4], and for understanding typical and atypical development of executive attention during the lifespan [5]. The preschool transition has been reported in studies in which event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured concurrently with different variants of the selective-set paradigm. The N2 component of young children is usually observed between 250 and 500 ms after stimulus onset [9,10]
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