Investigating event-related oscillations in infancy. In: De Haan M, editor. Infant EEG and Event-Related Potentials. Hove, England: Psychology Press; 2007. p. 289-304.
The emergence of the social brain network: Evidence from typical and atypical development. Development and Psychopathology. 2005;17(3):599-619. Abstract
The emergence of the social brain network: Evidence from typical and atypical development
Several research groups have identified a network of regions of the adult cortex that are activated during social perception and cognition tasks. In this paper we focus on the development of components of this social brain network during early childhood and test aspects of a particular viewpoint on human functional brain development: "interactive specialization." Specifically, we apply new data analysis techniques to a previously published data set of event-related potential (ERP) studies involving 3-, 4-, and 12-month-old infants viewing faces of different orientation and direction of eye gaze. Using source separation and localization methods, several likely generators of scalp recorded ERP are identified, and we describe how they are modulated by stimulus characteristics. We then review the results of a series of experiments concerned with perceiving and acting on eye gaze, before reporting on a new experiment involving young children with autism. Finally, we discuss predictions based on the atypical emergence of the social brain network.
ERP abnormalities of visual perception in Williams syndrome. Neuroreport. 2003;14:1773-7.
Recording and analyzing high-density event-related potentials with infants using the Geodesic sensor net. Developmental Neuropsychology. 2001;19(3):295-323. Abstract
Recording and analyzing high-density event-related potentials with infants using the Geodesic sensor net
This article provides an overview of the use of the Geodesic sensor net system for high-density event-related potential (ERP) recording in infants. Some advantages and disadvantages of the system, as applied to infants, are discussed. First, we illustrate that high-density data can be recorded from infants at comparable quality to that observed with conventional (low density) ERP methods. Second, we discuss ways to utilize the greater spatial information available by applying source separation and localization procedures. In particular, we focus on the application of one recent source separation method, Independent Component Analysis (ICA). Finally, we show that source localization can be applied to infant high-density data, although this entails adopting a number of assumptions that remain to be verified. In the future, with improved source separation algorithms, we suggest that single-trial or single-subject analyses may become feasible.
Disordered visual processing and oscillatory brain activity in autism and Williams Syndrome. Neuroreport. 2001;12(12):2697-700. Abstract
Disordered visual processing and oscillatory brain activity in autism and Williams Syndrome
Two developmental disorders, autism and Williams syndrome, are both commonly described as having difficulties in integrating perceptual features, i.e. binding spatially separate elements into a whole. It is already known that healthy adults and infants display electroencephalographic (EEG) gamma -band bursts (around 40 Hz) when the brain is required to achieve such binding. Here we explore gamma -band EEG in autism and Williams Syndrome and demonstrate differential abnormalities in the two phenotypes. We show that despite putative processing similarities at the cognitive level, binding in Williams syndrome and autism can be dissociated at the neurophysiological level by different abnormalities in underlying brain oscillatory activity. Our study is the first to identify that binding-related gamma EEG can be disordered in humans. NeuroReport 12:2697-2700 (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.