Neural oscillations and network specialisation in early childhood captured with next-generation magnetoencephalography

Early childhood sees very rapid brain development, reflected in substantial alterations in neural oscillations and reorganisation of functional networks. Yet, these developmental trajectories remain poorly understood, due to a paucity of studies in this age range. Optically pumped magnetometer-based magnetoencephalography provides a unique opportunity to assess neural activity from young children with high spatiotemporal resolution.

Here, we use this technology to determine the development of neural oscillations and functional networks in 111 children aged 1–5 years, including both cross-sectional and longitudinal data (163 datasets). We demonstrate that the aperiodic slope and offset increase across this age range, with regional specificity: the greatest changes were shown in temporo-parietal regions. Periodic power shifted towards higher frequencies, such that theta oscillations decreased with age, while alpha and beta increased.

Global connectivity decreased from 1–5 years, driven by a broadband bilateral parietal and frontal network, while task-relevant occipital connections increased with age. Our findings establish that oscillatory power and connectivity patterns evolve significantly over early childhood, contributing foundational information for understanding the neural underpinnings of maturing cognitive abilities. We would like to thank the families and children who took part in this study.

Funding was provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PJT-178370) and the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI; 2021 Human Cognitive and Behavioral Science award). N.R., J.S., and K.S. were supported by Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowships. Diagnostic & Interventional Radiology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada Natalie Rhodes, Marlee M.

Vandewouw, Eva Broeders, Julie Sato, Kristina Safar & Margot J. Taylor Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, SickKids Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada Natalie Rhodes, Julian Bandhan, Marlee M. Vandewouw, Eva Broeders, Julie Sato, Kristina Safar, Sebastian C.

Taylor Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Department of Child and Youth Studies, Trent University, Oshawa, ON, Canada Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada The authors declare no competing interests. Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material.