Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41202373›Full record

ArticleDevelopmental cognitive neuroscience2025

Theta activity as a marker of cognitive development in infancy: A longitudinal study across the first two years of life.

Alicja Brzozowska, Johanna Ruess, Regina Ori Stoeckl, Martina Arioli, Stefanie Hoehl

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Article in Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

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5 authors.

Alicja BrzozowskaDepartment of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: alicja.brzozowska@univie.ac.at.
Johanna RuessDepartment of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Regina Ori StoecklDepartment of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Martina ArioliDepartment of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
Stefanie HoehlDepartment of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Research shows that the theta rhythm in infant electroencephalogram indexes learning processes and is a promising candidate for a marker of early cognitive development. However, a scarcity of studies investigating the stability of individual differences in theta activity in infancy, and a large variability in analytical approaches in existing research constrain the interpretations of research findings. In our large longitudinal study, we related three different indices of frontocentral theta activity (absolute and relative power, and an index of theta modulation by novel content) at 6 and 12 months to cognitive development level, language skills, and visual attention at 24 months. We found an increase in theta power over the course of novel information encoding at 6 and 12 months, replicating prior studies. Both absolute and relative theta power, but not theta modulation index, showed a large degree of stability in individual differences from 6 to 12 months. Finally, absolute theta power at 6 and 12 months was a positive predictor of the general cognitive level, but not of specific skills (selective attention, language) at 24 months. Of note, we observed similar effects for absolute power in the alpha frequency band, suggesting that the effects are not specific to the theta frequency band. Our results support the involvement of the theta rhythm in cognitive development in infancy and point to absolute power as the potentially most sensitive index of individual differences in theta activity.

Indexed as

Child DevelopmentCognitionTheta RhythmAttentionChild, PreschoolElectroencephalographyFemaleHumansIndividualityInfantLongitudinal StudiesMaleCognitive developmentEEGInfantLearningTheta

Identifiers

PMID41202373
PMCPMC12793793

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