Age-Related Changes in EEG Signal Complexity and Behavioral Variability from Childhood to Adulthood: A Multiscale Entropy Approach.

Overview

Authors: Brenda Y Angulo-Ruiz¹, Vanesa Muñoz¹, Elena I Rodríguez-Martínez¹, Carlos M Gómez¹

ORCID iDs: Brenda Y Angulo-Ruiz, Vanesa Muñoz, Elena I Rodríguez-Martínez, Carlos M Gómez

Human Psychobiology Laboratory, Experimental Psychology Department, University of Seville, 41018 Seville, Spain; (B.Y.A.-R.); (V.M.); (E.I.R.-M.)

Institutions: Universidad de Sevilla (Spain)

Journal: Entropy (Basel, Switzerland), volume 28, issue 4, article 390

Dates: received 31 January 2026; accepted 26 March 2026; published online 1 April 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.3390/e28040390 · PMID 42072514 · PMCID PMC13115029 · OpenAlex W7147405625

Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Status: code on request

Categories: EEG (modality), developmental (subfield)

Methods: Preprocessing, Statistics, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions, Complexity, Connectivity, Physiology & signal measures

Keywords: electroencephalography, multiscale entropy, neural complexity, brain development, behavioral variability, age-related changes

Topic: Functional Brain Connectivity Studies (Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex

Funding: Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) (PID2022-139151OB-I00 (FEDER funds), PID2022-139151OB-I00, PID2025-170442OB-I00)

Citations: cited by 1 paper (Europe PMC); 71 references in the paper

Abstract

The complexity of physiological signals provides insight into the maturation and functional organization of the developing brain. This study investigated age-related changes in electroencephalographic (EEG) signal complexity and their association with behavioral variability in 240 participants aged 6 to 29 years. EEG signals were recorded during the resting state, and Multiscale Entropy (MSE) was computed across 34 temporal scales, grouped into fine, medium, and coarse scales. Behavioral variability was assessed using measures from Oddball and Delayed Match-to-Sample tasks. Quadratic regression analyses characterized age-related changes in MSE across scalp regions, and Pearson correlations evaluated associations between age-adjusted residuals of MSE and behavioral variability. The results showed that MSE changed with age across temporal scales in all cortical regions. Developmentally, MSE showed a significant age-related increase at fine scales across the entire scalp, region-specific decreases at medium scales, and a generalized decrease at coarse scales. Behavioral variability decreased with age across both tasks. Notably, fine-scale age residual MSE in central and posterior regions was negatively correlated with the coefficient of variation in the Oddball task, indicating that higher neural complexity supports more stable performance. These findings suggest scale- and region-specific age-related changes in neural complexity and suggest that fine-scale MSE captures aspects of brain maturation related to behavioral stability beyond traditional variability measures.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

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Data

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Data Availability Statement

The data and code related to the present study are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author ().

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 1, 28 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 4 authors, 6 keywords, 1 funder, 69 references.

Cite

This paper

Angulo-Ruiz, B. Y., Muñoz, V., Rodríguez-Martínez, E. I., & Gómez, C. M. (2026). Age-Related Changes in EEG Signal Complexity and Behavioral Variability from Childhood to Adulthood: A Multiscale Entropy Approach. Entropy (Basel, Switzerland), 28(4), 390. https://doi.org/10.3390/e28040390

BibTeX

@article{anguloruiz2026age, author = {Angulo-Ruiz, Brenda Y and Muñoz, Vanesa and Rodríguez-Martínez, Elena I and Gómez, Carlos M}, title = {{Age-Related Changes in EEG Signal Complexity and Behavioral Variability from Childhood to Adulthood: A Multiscale Entropy Approach}}, journal = {Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)}, year = {2026}, month = apr, volume = {28}, number = {4}, pages = {390}, publisher = {Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)}, issn = {1099-4300}, doi = {10.3390/e28040390}, url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/e28040390}, pmid = {42072514}, pmcid = {PMC13115029} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Angulo-Ruiz, Brenda Y AU - Muñoz, Vanesa AU - Rodríguez-Martínez, Elena I AU - Gómez, Carlos M TI - Age-Related Changes in EEG Signal Complexity and Behavioral Variability from Childhood to Adulthood: A Multiscale Entropy Approach T2 - Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) J2 - Entropy (Basel) PY - 2026 DA - 2026/04/01 VL - 28 IS - 4 SP - 390 SN - 1099-4300 PB - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) DO - 10.3390/e28040390 UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/e28040390 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

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