TY - JOUR
T1 - Age increases brain complexity
AU - Anokhin, Andrey P.
AU - Birbaumer, Niels
AU - Lutzenberger, Werner
AU - Nikolaev, Andrey
AU - Vogel, Friedrich
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the Moscow Departmenot f Educationf or the support of the psychophysiologiceaxl - aminationso f children.W e also thank Edda Schalt for the help in collectinga dult EEG data. The researchw as supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung fellowship to A.A. and the DeutscheF orschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 307. N.B. and W.L. are supportedb y the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinsch(aDftF G). We wish to thank two anonymourse viewersfo r their helpful comments.
PY - 1996/7
Y1 - 1996/7
N2 - This study investigated age-related changes in the human brain function using both traditional EEG analysis (power spectra) and the correlational dimension, a measure reflecting the complexity of EEG dynamics and, probably, the complexity of neurophysiologicaI processes generating the EEG. Assuming that the accumulation of individual experience is determined by the formation of functionally related groups of neurons showing a repetitive synchronous activation (cell assemblies), an increase in the number of such independently oscillating cortical cell assemblies can be expected, despite a decline of some metabolic and memory functions with normal age ing. Thus, the 'wisdom of old age' may find its neurophysiological basis in greater complexity of brain dynamics compared to young ages. The experimental hypothesis was that EEG dimension steadily increases with age. In order to test this hypothesis the resting EEGs of 5 age groups from 7 to 60 were analysed. The results confirm the hypothesis: after a jump in the brain dynamics complexity during puberty a linear increase with age is observed. During maturation (7-25 years), the maximum gain in complexity occurs over the frontal associative cortex.
AB - This study investigated age-related changes in the human brain function using both traditional EEG analysis (power spectra) and the correlational dimension, a measure reflecting the complexity of EEG dynamics and, probably, the complexity of neurophysiologicaI processes generating the EEG. Assuming that the accumulation of individual experience is determined by the formation of functionally related groups of neurons showing a repetitive synchronous activation (cell assemblies), an increase in the number of such independently oscillating cortical cell assemblies can be expected, despite a decline of some metabolic and memory functions with normal age ing. Thus, the 'wisdom of old age' may find its neurophysiological basis in greater complexity of brain dynamics compared to young ages. The experimental hypothesis was that EEG dimension steadily increases with age. In order to test this hypothesis the resting EEGs of 5 age groups from 7 to 60 were analysed. The results confirm the hypothesis: after a jump in the brain dynamics complexity during puberty a linear increase with age is observed. During maturation (7-25 years), the maximum gain in complexity occurs over the frontal associative cortex.
KW - Development
KW - Dimensional complexity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0030199736&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0921-884X(96)95573-3
DO - 10.1016/0921-884X(96)95573-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 8758971
AN - SCOPUS:0030199736
SN - 0013-4694
VL - 99
SP - 63
EP - 68
JO - Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology
JF - Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology
IS - 1
ER -