Project title: "Selective neural entrainment and dynamic attention in infants".

Project team: Alicja Brzozowska & Stefanie Höhl (University of Vienna).

Collaborators on the project: Annett Schirmer (Chinese University of Hong Kong), Moritz Köster (Freie Universität Berlin).

Department: Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Goal of the project: Effective learning in infancy depends on the ability to selectively attend to informative stimuli. The aim of this project is to examine the role that neural entrainment plays in the development of this ability across infancy.

Why is this important? The outcomes of this research will help us understand the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive development in infancy. Our findings may inform the design of potential future interventions for infants at risk of various neurodevelopmental and attention disorders.

Abstract: Research done with adults suggests that the ability to selectively attend to informative stimuli is supported by brain oscillations entraining to relevant external rhythms. Yet, we do not know how similar the brain mechanisms of dynamic attention in infants are. Drawing from adult research and combining electroencephalography (EEG) measurements with innovative stimulation methods, this project aims to examine brain mechanisms of selective attention across infancy. In this longitudinal research we will test infants at 6, 12 and 24 months of age, which will allow us to characterize intraindividual stability and interindividual variance in infants' dynamic selective attending as an early predictor of later cognitive developmental outcomes.

Explanation - easy to understand: Infants learn through turning their attention to meaningful things in their environment. We study what happens in infants' brains when they do that. Our findings will help us understand how learning in infancy can be supported.

Link: Selective neural entrainment and dynamic attention in infants (kinderstudien.at)