The global behavioral changes seen during adolescent development most likely require the integration of a number of functional neuronal areas distributed over the brain that are in constant interaction with each other. It has been suggested that such large scale integration and communication within the brain could be mediated by groups of neurons that oscillate within a specific frequency range and enter into precise phase-locking, or synchrony, over a limited period of time [20-22]. Measures of neuronal phase synchrony may therefore be a sensitive way to measure the effects of developmental changes on local and global neural networks in humans and rats.
