PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Caffarra, Sendy
AU  - Kanopka, Klint
AU  - Kruper, John
AU  - Richie-Halford, Adam
AU  - Roy, Ethan
AU  - Rokem, Ariel
AU  - Yeatman, Jason D.
TI  - Development of the alpha rhythm is linked to visual white matter pathways and visual detection performance
AID  - 10.1101/2022.09.03.506461
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.09.03.506461
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/09/04/2022.09.03.506461.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/09/04/2022.09.03.506461.full
AB  - Alpha is the strongest electrophysiological rhythm in awake humans at rest. Despite its predominance in the EEG signal, strong variations can be observed in alpha properties during development, with an increase of alpha frequency over childhood and adulthood. Here we tested the hypothesis that these changes of alpha rhythm are related to the maturation of visual white matter pathways. We capitalized on a large dMRI-EEG dataset (dMRI n=2,747, EEG n=2,561) of children and adolescents (age range: 5-21 years old) and showed that maturation of the optic radiation specifically accounts for developmental changes of alpha frequency. Behavioral analyses also confirmed that variations of alpha frequency are related to maturational changes in visual perception. The present findings demonstrate the close link between developmental variations in white matter tissue properties, electrophysiological responses, and behavior.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.