Cyclic cortical reorganization during early childhood

Abstract

EEG coherence was computed from 8 left and 8 right intrahemispheric electrode pairs from 253 children ranging in mean age from 6 months to 7 years. The first derivative of mean coherence was computed in order to study growth spurts or rapid changes in mean coherence over the early childhood period. Growth spurts in EEG coherence were approximately 6 months to 1 year in duration and involved a cyclical process composed of a sequential lengthening of intracortical connections in the left hemisphere and a sequential contraction of intracortical connections in the right hemisphere. Each growth spurt cycle had a period of approximately 2 to 4 years and involved both a rostral-caudal expansion and contraction as well as a lateral-to-medial rotation. Data support the view that the functions of the left and right hemisphere are established early in human development through complementary developmental sequences and that these sequences appear to recapitulate differences in adult hemispheric function.