The present study was conducted to further explore whether differences exist in ERO energy (the square of the output magnitude of the time frequency transform of the EEG) and phase synchrony (phase locking) between periadolescents and adults in rats and to directly compare those findings to human data. We predicted that over periadolescent development, the remodeling of neuronal circuits produced by pruning and increased myelination, could theoretically result in an increase in the synchrony or phase locking of neurons both within a neuronal population and between neuronal populations. Evidence for this hypothesis has been demonstrated previously in human studies [40]. Our study is unique in that we used a similar auditory event-related potential paradigm in male rats and male humans in order to explore effects of development during the periadolescent-adult period on energy and phase locking of EROs in specific frequency bands. The advantage of this type of “translational” research is that it allows for the use of electrophysiological measures, which have known clinical correlates in humans, to be used in rodent species where the mechanisms underlying the generation of those measures can be more readily explored using techniques such as genetic modification, molecular biology and behavioral investigations.
