Functional maturation of the brain and formation of the neurophysiological mechanisms of selective voluntary attention in young schoolchildren

Abstract

A particular role was demonstrated for functional maturation of the frontothalamic system (FTS) of the brain in forming the cerebral organization of selective voluntary attention in ontogeny. Analysis of the coherence of the rhythmic components of the EEG α range in adults and seven-to eight-and nine-to ten-year-old children showed that, if the functional state of the control structures corresponds to the age, the formation of the neurophysiological mechanisms selectively modulating cortical activity and supporting selective tuning of the cerebral structures to the cognitive task is completed by the age of seven or eight years. Unlike adults, children demonstrated no interhemispheric features of the intercenter integration of cortical zones in the prestimulus period of voluntary attention. Children with a functionally immature FTS lacked selective specific integration of cortical zones in the pretuning period. The deficit of selective modulation of cortical activity in children with a functionally immature FTS is considered as the neurophysiological factor that delays the formation of voluntary attention and voluntary control of activity and, finally, leads to learning difficulties.