Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology

, Volume 36, Issue 7, pp 721–727 | Cite as

Age-related characteristics of brain development in children living in the north

  • S. I. Soroko
  • É. A. Burykh
  • G. V. Sidorenko
Article
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Abstract

The morphofunctional age-related development of the brain was studied in schoolchildren living in the difficult climatological-geographic and socioeconomic conditions of the north (Arkhangel’sk region). Of the 62 students in country middle schools, EEG amplitude-frequency, time, and spatial measures corresponded to age norms (European norms) in only 10 cases (16%). A further 26 children (53%) showed minor abnormalities in the form of an inadequate degree of organization of the temporospatial EEG pattern, mainly in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, with increases in the levels of the theta and delta rhythms, and the absence of any marked “functional nucleus” in the alpha rhythm. In the remaining 14 children (29%), EEG measures showed more marked delays in mental development (DMD), which were combined with learning difficulties and abnormal behavior. The retardation in the morphofunctional development of the brain in northern children averaged 1.5–2 years, which coincides with delays in hormonal and physical development described by other authors.

Key words

north children brain development 

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006

Authors and Affiliations

  • S. I. Soroko
    • 1
    • 2
  • É. A. Burykh
    • 1
    • 2
  • G. V. Sidorenko
    • 1
    • 2
  1. 1.Interinstitute Laboratory for Comparative Ecological-Physiological Studies, I. M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and BiochemistryRussian Academy of SciencesRussia
  2. 2.Arktika International Scientific Center, Far Eastern BranchRussian Academy of SciencesSt. PetersburgRussia

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