Monitoring Neural Activity in Infants: Integration of Functional Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy and Electroencephalography

Abstract

Functional diffuse correlation spectroscopy (fDCS) and electroencephalography (EEG) have shown distinct advantages in studying the infant´s brain. In this work, we used a 16-channel fDCS device and 128-sensors Geodesic EEG system to test the feasibility of measuring task-triggered responses in infants. We examined neural responses to visual stimuli (e.g., checkerboard display) and to speech stimuli presented in an alternating/non-alternating design. Our preliminary results of 46 infants found a strong neural response to visual stimuli in the occipital region, showing increased cerebral blood flow and visually evoked responses. This suggested that the fDCS-EEG setup is promising for exploring cognitive function in infants.