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Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
Developmental gender differences in the synchronization of auditory event-related oscillations
Plamenka Nanova1, Vasil Kolev, Juliana Yordanova
1Institute of Neurobiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev str., bl. 23, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria.
Objectives:
The aim of the present study was to explore the neurophysiologic origins of gender differences in auditory processing mechanisms of 7-10 year-old children by means of event-related oscillations. It was tested if the developmental changes in synchronization and magnitude of oscillations in different processing conditions depended on gender.
Methods:
Eighteen girls and 18 boys aged 7-10 years were pair wise matched for age and were divided into two age groups. Auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in passive, sensorimotor and working memory conditions. Phase-locking and single-trial magnitude of ERPs were analyzed in the delta (0.5-4 Hz), theta (4-7 Hz), slow (7-10 Hz), and fast (10-14 Hz) alpha frequency bands to test the effects of gender, age, and processing condition.
Results:
The phase-locking of auditory delta, theta, and slow alpha oscillations increased with development only in girls, independently of task processing. Only for the theta phase-locking was this effect additionally affected by the motor-related task. No changes in the magnitude of oscillations accompanied these gender differences in synchronization except for parietal delta responses that also increased with development only in girls.
Conclusions:
The results demonstrate that gender differences in auditory ERPs basically originate from a stronger functional synchronization of oscillatory responses generated during stimulus processing.
Significance:
The study provides evidence that the functional maturation of oscillatory auditory networks reflected by a progressive developmental increase of synchronization, is accelerated in girls relative to boys between 7 and 10 years of age.
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