Development
A fruitful conceptualization of mu waves in pediatric use that is independent of their frequency is that mu wave suppression is a representation of activity going on in the world, and is detectable in the frontal and parietal networks. A resting oscillation becomes suppressed during the observation of sensory information such as sounds or sights, usually within the frontoparietal (motor) cortical region. Measured in this way, the mu wave is detectable during infancy as early as four to six months, when the peak frequency the wave reaches can be as low as 5.4 Hz. There is a rapid increase in peak frequency in the first year of life, and by age two frequency typically reaches 7.5 Hz. The peak frequency of the mu wave increases with age until maturation into adulthood, when it reaches its final and stable frequency of 8–13 Hz. These varying frequencies are measured as activity around the central sulcus, within the Rolandic cortex.
Mu waves are thought to be indicative of an infant’s developing ability to imitate. This is important because the ability to imitate plays a vital role in the development of motor skills, tool use, and understanding causal information through social interaction. Mimicking is integral in the development of social skills and understanding nonverbal cues. Causal relationships can be made through social learning without requiring experience firsthand. In action execution, mu waves are present in both infants and adults before and after the execution of a motor task and its accompanying desynchronization. While executing a goal-oriented action, however, infants exhibit a higher degree of desynchronization than do adults. Just as with an action execution, during action observation infants’ mu waves not only show a desynchronization, but show a desynchronization greater in degree than the one evidenced in adults. This tendency for changes in degree of desynchronization, rather than actual changes in frequency, becomes the measure for mu wave development throughout adulthood, although the most changes take place during the first year of life. Understanding the mechanisms that are shared between action perception and execution in the earliest years of life has implications for language development. Learning and understanding through social interaction comes from imitating movements as well as vowel sounds. Sharing the experience of attending to an object or event with another person can be a powerful force in the development of language.
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