Peer-reviewed article
Developmental variation in resting-state EEG spectral correlates of response inhibition in children and adolescents.
Xu Y, Yang Z, Ouyang G, He Q, Xu M ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This neuroscience study examined brain wave patterns (EEG) in 1,654 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years to understand how electrical brain activity relates to the ability to inhibit responses. The researchers found associations between specific EEG frequency bands and performance on a stop-signal task, and showed that these associations changed with age. While the study includes children, it is a basic neuroscience investigation of brain mechanisms rather than an evaluation of child well-being or an intervention to improve children's lives.
Key points
- Higher delta and theta power were associated with poorer response inhibition
- Higher alpha and beta power were associated with better response inhibition
- Age significantly moderated the relationship between EEG markers and response inhibition for some frequency bands
- The electrophysiological correlates of response inhibition appear developmentally dynamic across childhood and adolescence
Limitations
This is a correlational study of brain physiology and does not evaluate any intervention or real-world outcome for child well-being. The findings describe associations between brain activity and a cognitive task but do not assess whether these patterns affect children's actual health, development, or quality of life.
Abstract
Identifying electrophysiological markers of response inhibition in children and adolescents is of substantial importance. Although previous studies have examined associations between resting-state electroencephalography (rs-EEG) power and response inhibition, findings across frequency bands have been inconsistent, and evidence regarding band-ratio indices remains limited. To address these issues, the present study examined the associations between rs-EEG spectral indices and response inhibition in a large sample of 1654 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years, and further tested whether these associations varied as a function of age. Based on eyes-open rs-EEG recordings, relative power was extracted for the delta, theta, alpha, and beta bands, and three band-ratio indices were calculated: the theta/beta ratio (TBR), alpha/theta ratio (ATR), and beta/theta ratio (BTR). Response inhibition was assessed using the stop-signal task. Correlation analyses showed that higher delta power, theta power, and TBR were associated with poorer response inhibition, whereas higher alpha power, beta power, ATR, and BTR were associated with better response inhibition. Moderation analyses further indicated that age significantly moderated the associations of delta power, beta power, ATR, and BTR with response inhibition, whereas no significant age-moderating effects were observed for theta power, alpha power or TBR. Taken together, these findings suggest that the electrophysiological correlates of response inhibition are developmentally dynamic across childhood and adolescence. The present study provides a psychophysiological account of developmental variation in response inhibition and underscores the importance of age when interpreting resting-state EEG-behavior associations.