AUTHOR=Leung Sumie , Mareschal Denis , Rowsell Renee , Simpson David , Iaria Leon , Grbic Amanda , Kaufman Jordy TITLE=Oscillatory Activity in the Infant Brain and the Representation of Small Numbers JOURNAL=Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience VOLUME=10 YEAR=2016 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/systems-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnsys.2016.00004 DOI=10.3389/fnsys.2016.00004 ISSN=1662-5137 ABSTRACT=

Gamma-band oscillatory activity (GBA) is an established neural signature of sustained occluded object representation in infants and adults. However, it is not yet known whether the magnitude of GBA in the infant brain reflects the quantity of occluded items held in memory. To examine this, we compared GBA of 6–8 month-old infants during occlusion periods after the representation of two objects vs. that of one object. We found that maintaining a representation of two objects during occlusion resulted in significantly greater GBA relative to maintaining a single object. Further, this enhancement was located in the right occipital region, which is consistent with previous object representation research in adults and infants. We conclude that enhanced GBA reflects neural processes underlying infants’ representation of small numbers.