Elsevier

Cortex

Volume 80, July 2016, Pages 61-75
Cortex

Special issue: Review
The use of repetition suppression paradigms in developmental cognitive neuroscience

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2016.04.002Get rights and content

Abstract

Repetition suppression paradigms allow a more detailed look at brain functioning than classical paradigms and have been applied vigorously in adult cognitive neuroscience. These paradigms are well suited for studies in the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience as they can be applied without collecting a behavioral response and across all age groups. Furthermore, repetition suppression paradigms can be employed in various neuroscience techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). In the present article we review studies using repetition suppression paradigms in developmental cognitive neuroscience covering the age range from infancy to adolescence. Our first goal is to point out characteristics of developmental repetition suppression effects. In doing so, we discuss the relationship of the direction of repetition effects (suppression vs enhancement) with developmental factors, and address the question how the direction of repetition effects might be related to looking-time effects in behavioral infant paradigms, the most prominently used behavioral measure in infant research. To highlight the potential of repetition suppression paradigms, our second goal is to provide an overview on the insights recently obtained by applying repetition paradigms in neurodevelopmental studies, including research on children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). We conclude that repetition suppression paradigms are valuable tools for investigating neurodevelopmental processes, while at the same time we highlight the necessity for further studies that disentangle methodological and developmental factors.

Section snippets

Introduction to repetition paradigms in developmental neuroscience research

Repetition suppression paradigms offer two major advantages, which make them useful tools for studies in the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience. First of all, they can be conducted without collecting an overt behavioral response of the participants. This makes it possible to apply repetition suppression paradigms even in age groups where active tasks are difficult to realize, such as infants (see Nakano, Watanabe, Homae, & Taga, 2009, for an auditory paradigm in sleeping

Repetition suppression versus repetition enhancement during development

Although in most cases repetition of a stimulus leads to a suppression of the signal, in some cases an increase of the signal can be found. This phenomenon has been termed repetition enhancement and such effects have been detected using various methods, in regions all over the brain and in a variety of paradigms (for a review, see Segaert, Weber, de Lange, Petersson, & Hagoort, 2013). The exact mechanisms that influence the direction of the effect are not yet well understood. However, it is

Relationship between repetition suppression and habituation in behavioral infant studies

A characteristic of repetition suppression paradigms is that they follow very similar principles as behavioral habituation paradigms which are the most commonly applied measure in infancy research (Turk-Browne, Scholl, & Chun, 2008). In classical infant habituation paradigms the infant is habituated to a certain stimulus until looking time declines to a previously defined criterion level. In a following test phase the infant is presented with two stimuli simultaneously, one of which is the

How does autism affect repetition suppression?

As repetition suppression reflects a fundamental principle of neuronal functioning the question arises, whether some neurodevelopmental disorders affect repetition suppression? In ASD, hints to a special role of repeated stimuli have been described both on a behavioral level in the form of an often observed “need for sameness”, and on a neural level with differential repetition suppression effects in people with autism compared to healthy controls in the visual domain. Here we will review

Overview of cognitive domains targeted by developmental repetition suppression paradigms

In the following paragraphs we will provide an overview of the cognitive domains that have been investigated using repetition suppression paradigms in a developmental context so far, including language, numerical processing, face processing, goal representation and processing of novel information. We show that the advantages of repetition suppression paradigms differ from one cognitive domain to another. For instance, in the domain of visual processing, the great potential of repetition

Conclusion

We conclude that repetition paradigms are valuable tools for studying cognitive and perceptual processes during development and already have provided substantial insights in the field of developmental neuroscience. However, additional research is clearly needed to shed further light on aspects which are particularly relevant for neurodevelopmental studies such as the relationship between differing memory and attention capacities of the age group in question and the direction of repetition

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a scholarship of the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes) awarded to M.N. and grants from the German Research Foundation (WE 5802/1-1) and the Daimler and Benz Foundation awarded to S.W.

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