Crawling experience is related to changes in cortical organization during infancy: evidence from EEG coherence

Dev Psychobiol. 1996 Nov;29(7):551-61. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2302(199611)29:7<551::AID-DEV1>3.0.CO;2-T.

Abstract

Greenough's model of experience-expectant plasticity was used to examine EEG coherence among four groups of 8-month-old infants that varied in hands-and-knees crawling experience. Groups included prelocomotor infants, novice crawlers with 1-4 weeks experience, infants with 5-8 weeks, and long-term crawlers with 9+ weeks experience. Resting EEG was recorded from frontal, parietal, and occipital sites of both hemispheres. EEG coherence between intrahemispheric sites was computed. Novice crawlers (1-4 weeks) displayed greater coherence than either prelocomotor infants or experienced crawlers. These data suggest that the anticipation and onset of locomotion was related to an overproduction of cortico-cortical connections. Pruning of these overabundant connections may be a source of the decrease in coherence as crawling becomes more routine.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Electroencephalography*
  • Frontal Lobe / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Locomotion / physiology*
  • Occipital Lobe / physiology*
  • Parietal Lobe / physiology*