Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.1038/s41390-026-05160-8

Publication Title

Pediatric Research

Volume

Advance online publication

Pages

24 pp.

Abstract

Background

Early identification of motor developmental disorders is limited due to lack of objective neural markers that characterize typical neurodevelopmental patterns. This systematic review interprets and synthesizes existing evidence to propose a framework of EEG signatures associated with motor development in children aged 0-5 years, which may help inform future benchmarks for early assessment and intervention.

Methods

Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched published and gray literature across five databases between 2000 and 2025 (registered protocol). Included studies examined EEG during task-based, resting-state, or sleep studies linked to motor milestones, task performance, or standardized motor assessments. Study quality was assessed using the NIH tool.

Results

From 35 studies including 1107 neurotypical children, we identified four study types: action observation, action execution, combined observation/execution, and resting/sleep EEG. Mu rhythm desynchronization (6-13 Hz) emerged as the most common marker of motor maturation, with mu peak increasing from 6-9 Hz in infants to 8.5-10 Hz in preschoolers. Motor experience strengthened neural responses, sleep features (slow-wave activity and spindles) predicted future motor outcomes, and beta oscillations supported action prediction and coordination.

Conclusion

EEG shows promise as a non-invasive tool for tracking early motor development. However, methodological heterogeneity underscores the need for standardized research before EEG can reliably identify atypical development or monitor intervention response.

Impact

  • This review synthesizes EEG signatures in children 0-5 years and shows that mu rhythm desynchronization (6-13 Hz) is the most common correlate of early motor development.
  • First review to combine task-based EEG (watching and doing actions) with resting and sleep EEG in this age group.
  • This review identifies EEG features, including alpha and beta rhythms, slow-wave activity, spindles, and connectivity patterns linked to motor skills, suggesting their potential as early objective correlates of typical motor development.

Rights

© The Authors 2026

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original authors and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

Data Availability

Article states: "The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request."

ORCID

0000-0003-3993-3580 (Khurana), 0000-0002-9578-1828 (Kulkarni), 0000-0002-6440-849X (Bennett)

Original Publication Citation

Khurana, S., Kulkarni, A., Bulea, T. C., & Bennett, H. J. (2026). EEG signatures of motor development in early childhood: A systematic review. Pediatric Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-026-05160-8

Additional Files
41390_2026_5160_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (261 kB)
Supplementary Information
41390_2026_5160_MOESM2_ESM.docx (268 kB)
PRISMA Checklist
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