Neural markers of attention at 6 months associate with later attentional control performance

Attentional control is key to the development of executive functions. Previous studies have indicated that individual differences in attentional control behaviour may be stable from 6 months. Here, we analyse electroencephalogram data collected from 59 6-month-olds to gain insights into the neural processes underlying attentional control in infancy. Firstly, we examine the neural activity preceding distinct looking behaviours in a task designed to elicit attentional control. Secondly, we test whether those neural markers show predictive associations to behavioural measures of attentional control (Freeze-Frame task) and executive function (A-not-B task) in the same infants at 9 months. Whilst our data do not show evidence that 6-9Hz power is implicated in attentional control at 6 months, or that the P1 ERP component plays a role in our attentional control task, we do find evidence that corroborates and extends research linking 3-6Hz power to attentional control. At the group level, frontal 3-6Hz power recorded whilst looking to a central target prior to the onset of a peripheral distractor was greater during trials where infants subsequently looked to the distractor, compared with trials where they did not look. Higher 3-6Hz power in trials where the infant did not look to a peripheral distractor was predictive of less distractibility at 9 months, and higher 3Hz power in trials where infants did look to the distractor strengthened the predictive association from 6-month EEG to 9-month behaviour. We suggest that 3-6Hz activity may be sensitive to multiple processes, such as anticipatory attention, and the ability to maintain attention on a target.