Frontal lobe activation during object permanence: data from near-infrared spectroscopy.
The ability to create and hold a mental schema of an object is one of the milestones in cognitive development. Developmental scientists have named the behavioral manifestation of this competence object permanence. Convergent evidence indicates that frontal lobe maturation plays a critical role in the display of object permanence, but methodological and ethical constrains have made it difficult to collect neurophysiological evidence from awake, behaving infants. Near-infrared spectroscopy provides a noninvasive assessment of changes in oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin and total hemoglobin concentration within a prescribed region. The evidence described in this report reveals that the emergence of object permanence is related to an increase in hemoglobin concentration in frontal cortex.
Baird
Abigail A
AA
Laboratory of Infant Study, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Kagan
Jerome
J
Gaudette
Thomas
T
Walz
Kathryn A
KA
Hershlag
Natalie
N
Boas
David A
DA
D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
D006454:Hemoglobins; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins