Measuring response inhibition in mobile children using naturalistic neuroimaging and virtual reality
Poster No:
732
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Larisa-Maria Dina1, Paola Pinti2, Tim Smith3
Institutions:
1King's College London, London, London, 2Birkbeck, University of London, London, London, 3University of the Arts, London, London
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Response inhibition follows a long developmental trajectory as it emerges near the end of the first year of life, rapidly matures throughout early childhood, and continues to develop throughout adolescence until early adulthood (Best & Miller, 2010). This prolonged developmental trajectory is closely linked to the maturation of brain structures and neural networks (Zhou et al., 2022). Despite widespread assessments and its importance in goal-directed behaviours, response inhibition is typically assessed using non-naturalistic assessments, using decontextualised, static, repetitive stimuli, largely delivered in constrained laboratory settings (Aliko et al., 2020; Dina et al., 2024). Furthermore, it remains challenging to measure its neural correlates in paediatric populations, as most existing imaging techniques are not appropriate for young children due to noise and movement restrictions. To isolate latent variables whilst introducing some curated noise, we developed a naturalistic, age-appropriate paradigm using a cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE) and simultaneously used mobile functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to identify neuroanatomical regions associated with response inhibition in naturalistic settings.
The aims were to compare behavioural performance and neural correlates of response inhibition in the novel CAVE task, establish if the novel task is able to capture neurodevelopmental differences, investigate the psychometric properties of the task, and the feasibility and acceptability of the combined virtual reality-fNIRS protocol.
The aims were to compare behavioural performance and neural correlates of response inhibition in the novel CAVE task, establish if the novel task is able to capture neurodevelopmental differences, investigate the psychometric properties of the task, and the feasibility and acceptability of the combined virtual reality-fNIRS protocol.
Methods:
The new task was validated in a sample of adults first (N=24, Mage=30.38, SD=10.54), and then in children (N=36, Mage=4.44, SDage=1.11 years). Participants completed two Go/No-Go tasks: a standard computer-based version and an adapted CAVE version using a four-sided custom-designed display system. To interact with the CAVE system, participants wore custom 3D-printed liquid crystal display shutter glasses and motion-tracking gloves. Simultaneously, two wireless continuous wave fNIRS devices recorded cortical changes in HbO2 and HbR from the bilateral dorsolateral frontal cortices (Figure 1). Optodes formed 44 long separation channels with a source-detector distance of 3cm for adults and 2.5cm for children, and an additional 4 short separation channels in children (source-detector distance=1cm) (Pinti et al., 2024).
Results:
The novel CAVE task proved feasible and acceptable, with high completion rates and minimal virtual reality-induced symptoms. As expected, we found higher error rates in Go/No-Go blocks compared to Go-only blocks. In children, there were significant associations between performance measures in the standardised and CAVE tasks, indicating acceptable convergent validity. Specific to the early childhood sample, error rates in Go/No-Go blocks in the novel CAVE task elicited higher activity in the bilateral prefrontal cortices. Furthermore, we found significant changes in HbO2 and HbR (p < .05) during the Go/No-Go blocks in the channel corresponding to the left inferior frontal gyrus, and this survived FDR correction for multiple comparisons (Figure 2). Finally, behavioural task performance was sensitive to age differences, with demonstratable higher difficulty for the early childhood sample.
Conclusions:
This is the first study to investigate response inhibition in young children in naturalistic settings (a CAVE) and concomitantly measure its neural correlates during unrestricted movement. Here we demonstrate that a novel CAVE task is a valid measure of response inhibition, activating frontal brain regions identified as part of the neural inhibitory control network in prior neuroimaging research. We further show that an immersive VR and fNIRS setup can be safely, feasibly and acceptably be used in children as young as 3 years old. By integrating age-appropriate fNIRS with an immersive CAVE, this work opens potential new approaches to studying neurodevelopment.
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Executive Function, Cognitive Control and Decision Making 1
Lifespan Development:
Early life, Adolescence, Aging
Normal Brain Development: Fetus to Adolescence 2
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
NIRS
Keywords:
Cognition
Data analysis
Design and Analysis
Development
NORMAL HUMAN
Other - fNIRS
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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Provide references using APA citation style.
Best, J. R., & Miller, P. H. (2010). A developmental perspective on executive function. Child development, 81(6), 1641-1660.
Dina, L. M., Smith, T. J., Hauser, T. U., & Dommett, E. J. (2024). Naturalistic assessments across the lifespan: Systematic review of inhibition measures in ecological settings. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 167.
Pinti, P., Dina, L. M., & Smith, T. J. (2024). Ecological functional near-infrared spectroscopy in mobile children: using short separation channels to correct for systemic contamination during naturalistic neuroimaging. Neurophotonics, 11(4), 045004-045004.
Zhou, X., Planalp, E. M., Heinrich, L., Pletcher, C., DiPiero, M., Alexander, A. L., ... & Dean III, D. C. (2022). Inhibitory control in children 4–10 years of age: Evidence from functional near-infrared spectroscopy task-based observations. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 15, 798358.