Gender Differences in the Development of EEG Coherence in Normal Children

Abstract

General developmental patterns of mean electroencephalogram (EEG) coherence, computed from 16 scalp locations, were separately determined for 224 girls and 284 boys ranging in age from 2 months to 161/2 years. Principal components analysis of mean coherence developmental trajectories demonstrated gender-specific patterns and timing differences in the onset of synchronized-asynchronized oscillations. No brain region in either sex had a maturational plateau period. Differences in gender-specific rhythms were statistically significant in brain regions paired with frontal and temporal cortices. From birth to age 6 years, girls exhibited synchronized EEG coherence peaks in cortical regions known to be associated primarily with concurrent discrimination, language processing, fine motor skills, and social cognition. During this same early period, boys exhibited synchronized EEG coherence peaks in cortical regions known to be associated primarily with spatial-visual discrimination and executive planning related to gross motor movement, visual targeting, and accessing stored information. After age 6 years, both sexes exhibited large shifts in EEG coherence patterns with female synchronized changes now occurring in occipital and right temporal processing regions and male synchronized changes now occurring in frontal and left temporal processing regions.