Analysis of Age-Related Dynamics and Gender-Specific Characteristics of Spontaneous Bioelectrical Activity and Components of Auditory Evoked Potentials in Junior School Students Living in the Arctic Region of the Russian Federation

Abstract

We studied neurophysiological characteristics of the age-related development in junior school students (7–8 and 10–11 years of age) living in the Arctic region of the Russian Federation. The background electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded during quiet wakefulness with the eyes closed and open, and event related potentials (ERP) were recorded during the passive perception of sound stimuli within the oddball paradigm in the group of children (33 subjects, 18 boys and 15 girls). A decrease of the latency period and the spatial rearrangement of mismatch negativity with an increase in the amplitude in the centrofrontal cortex have been revealed in the groups of children aged 10–11 years during the perception of a rare stimulus and a decrease of the latency period of the Р300 component in the central and parietal areas associated with the maturation of mechanisms for involuntary auditory attention. Age-specific differences in the components of auditory ERP (N1 and N2) have been shown during passive perception of rare and frequent sounds, which reflect the processes of the morphofunctional maturation of the brain cortex in healthy Arctic school students (an increase of the N1 component amplitude, a decrese of the amplitude and the latency period of the N2 component). The analysis of the background EEG characteristics has shown both the common features, such as a decrease with age of the EEG power in the Δ and θ bands in the eyes-open state, and the different direction and topographic specificities in the age-dependent reorganization of bioelectrical activity in boys and girls in the α₁ and α₂ EEG bands.