Two Independent Response Mechanisms to Auditory Stimuli Measured with Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Sleeping Infants

This study investigated the morphology of the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) response to speech sounds measured from 16 sleeping infants and how it changes with repeated stimulus presentation. We observed a positive peak followed by a wide negative trough, with the latter being most evident in early epochs. We argue that the overall response morphology captures the effects of two simultaneous, but independent, response mechanisms that are both activated at the stimulus onset: one being the obligatory response to a sound stimulus by the auditory system, and the other being a neural suppression effect induced by the arousal system. Because the two effects behave differently with repeated epochs, it is possible to mathematically separate them and use fNIRS to study factors that affect the development and activation of the arousal system in infants. The results also imply that standard fNIRS analysis techniques need to be adjusted to take into account the possibilities of multiple simultaneous brain systems being activated and that the response to a stimulus is not necessarily stationary.