Abstract
Investigating learning mechanisms in infancy relies largely on behavioural measures like visual attention, which often fail to predict whether stimuli would be encoded successfully. This study explored EEG activity in the theta frequency band, previously shown to predict successful learning in adults, to directly study infants' cognitive engagement, beyond visual attention. We tested 11-month-old infants (N = 23) and demonstrated that differences in frontal theta-band oscillations, recorded during infants' object exploration, predicted differential subsequent recognition of these objects in a preferential-looking test. Given that theta activity is modulated by motivation to learn in adults, these findings set the ground for future investigation into the drivers of infant learning.
Highlights
Investigating predictors of learning success in infancy has relied largely on behavioural measures like visual attention
To establish whether a relationship exists between theta activity during exploration and infants’ later recognition of the explored objects, a stepwise linear regression was performed on the data
This study is the first to demonstrate that modulations of frontal theta-band oscillations, recorded during infants’ object exploration, predict infants’ subsequent recognition of these objects
Summary
Investigating predictors of learning success in infancy has relied largely on behavioural measures like visual attention. While termination of visual attention might indicate successful encoding [1], longer visual attention to stimuli does not necessarily predict better encoding or recognition at test [2]. This suggests that quality, rather than quantity, of attention may be more relevant for successful information processing. A promising means of elucidating how attentional quality supports learning in infancy is directly measuring the neural correlates, which have been shown to predict successful learning in adults. A growing body of research is demonstrating that modulations in oscillatory activity in the theta frequency band (4–8 Hz in adults), believed to reflect prefrontal–hippocampal information-processing loops, correlate with memory performance at test. A similar relationship was found between prestimulus frontal theta activity and memory accuracy [4], as well as between frontal theta activity during retention and the capacity of visual working memory [5]
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