Elevated Connectivity During Language Processing Is Associated With Cognitive Performance in SeLECTS

Self-Limited Epilepsy with Centrotemporal Spikes (SeLECTS) is associated with language impairments despite seizures originating in the motor cortex, suggesting aberrant cross-network interactions. Here we tested whether functional connectivity in SeLECTS during language tasks predicts language performance.

We recorded high-density EEG from right-handed children with SeLECTS (n = 31) and age-matched controls (n = 32) during verb generation, repetition, and resting tasks. Phonological awareness was assessed using the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing-2. Connectivity between bilateral motor cortices and language regions (the left inferior frontal and superior temporal cortices and their right hemisphere homologs) was measured using the weighted Phase Lag Index (wPLI).

Children with SeLECTS demonstrated significantly elevated connectivity between motor and language regions during language processing. Motor-to-frontal connectivity was higher in SeLECTS during both verb generation and repetition tasks. Frontal-to-temporal connectivity was elevated specifically during verb generation. Exploratory analyses suggest high interhemispheric connectivity (between the left and right hemispheres) during language tasks is associated with poor phonological awareness in children with SeLECTS, but not controls. Together, we found that children with SeLECTS exhibited pathologically elevated connectivity between motor and language networks that was strongly associated with impaired phonological awareness.

These findings establish task-specific connectivity abnormalities as a characteristic feature of SeLECTS and suggest interhemispheric connectivity patterns may relate to language outcomes, warranting further investigation as potential targets for therapeutic neuromodulation.