Understanding brain maturation: How spontaneous cortical high frequency oscillations develop and affect executive function during childhood

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My research program studies spontaneous physiological High Frequency Oscillations (HFOs, 80-500Hz), which reflect the acquisition of complex skills during childhood. In recent years, it has been shown that not only HFOs triggered by stimuli but also spontaneous HFOs are important drivers of cognitive skills like motor planning and memory consolidation. First described mainly in intracranial resting state EEG recordings, HFOs  have also been reliably observed on scalp EEG. This will allow us to systematically investigate the extent to which HFOs reflect development in children. All EEG rhythms undergo systematic changes during brain maturation, a process known as EEG ontogenesis.  Establishing HFOs as a measure of successful development will necessitate a more comprehensive characterization of HFOs: the age at which they are generated in the brain and age-related changes in their frequency, rate and location. The overarching goal for the next 5 years is to establish HFOs as an objective biomarker for brain maturation in children. We hypothesize that HFOs reflect successful learning during development more precisely than other EEG features or behavioural observations. I will advance knowledge about HFOs during brain development by fulfilling 4 objectives: 1. Establish a clear understanding of age-dependent changes of intracranial HFO characteristics like rate, frequency and power in different brain regions. 2. Clarify what determines visibility of cortical HFOs on the scalp: age, location of generator or frequency. 3. Provide specific maps of scalp HFO maturation across all developmental stages from preterm to adolescence. 4. Establish evidence for a resting state HFOs as a precise and individual assessment of changing motor function in preschool children. My research program studies HFOs at multiple scales from direct cortical recordings to scalp EEG. Investigations will span all ages from preterm babies to adolescence. This proposal will provide answers to the following questions: 1. Are spontaneous HFOs age-dependent? 2. Are HFOs reliably accessible on scalp EEG? 3. To which extent do HFOs reflect motor function during development? Significance: More than any other EEG signatures, HFOs have the potential to closely reflect highly complex functions. The detailed atlas of cortical and scalp HFOs developed in this project will serve as a gold standard for future understanding of developmental processes and will contribute to research in behavioural, cognitive and developmental  neuroscience. It will also provide the first systematic assessment of intracranial EEG ontogenesis and will shed light on how cortical maturation affects HFOs.