Testosterone levels mediate the dynamics of motor oscillatory coding and behavior in developing youth

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Neuroscience
• Motor Control

Background:

• Motor-related oscillatory responses are studied to understand brain maturation from childhood to adulthood.
• Previous research has not explored the specific impact of testosterone on motor cortical activity and performance during development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between testosterone levels, age, and motor cortical dynamics (beta oscillations) in youth.
• To examine how testosterone mediates the effects of age on complex motor sequencing task performance.

Main Methods:

• Collected salivary testosterone samples from 58 participants aged 9-15 years.
• Recorded magnetoencephalography (MEG) during a complex motor sequencing task.
• Utilized multiple mediation modeling to analyze relationships between testosterone, age, behavior, and beta (15-23 Hz) oscillatory activity.

Main Results:

• Testosterone levels mediated the effect of age on movement-related beta activity.
• Testosterone and reaction time mediated the effect of age on movement duration.
• Testosterone's impact on motor performance was not mediated by beta activity in the primary motor cortex, suggesting involvement of higher-order regions.

Conclusions:

• Testosterone is uniquely associated with neural and behavioral aspects of complex motor performance in developing youth.
• This study is the first to link developmental testosterone changes to the maturation of beta oscillations for motor planning and execution.