Resting state eyes-closed cortical rhythms in patients with locked-in-syndrome: an EEG study.

OBJECTIVE: Locked-in syndrome (LIS) is a state of complete paralysis, except for ocular movements, which results from ventral brainstem lesions. Patients typically are fully conscious. Here we tested the hypothesis that electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms are abnormal in LIS patients, possibly due to an impaired neural synchronization between brainstem and cerebral cortex. METHODS: Resting state eyes-closed EEG data were recorded in 13 LIS subjects and 15 cognitively normal control subjects. With reference to the individual alpha frequency (IAF), the bands of interest were delta (IAF-8 to IAF-6Hz), theta (IAF-6 to IAF-4Hz), alpha 1 (IAF-4 to IAF-2Hz), alpha 2 (IAF-2 to IAFHz), and alpha 3 (IAF to IAF+2Hz). Furthermore, beta 1 (13-20Hz) and beta 2 (20-30Hz) bands were also considered. Cortical EEG sources were estimated by low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). RESULTS: The power of alpha 2 and alpha 3 sources in all regions was lower in patients with LIS compared to controls. The power of delta sources in central, parietal, occipital and temporal regions was higher in patients with LIS compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that cortical sources of resting state eyes-closed alpha and delta rhythms are abnormal in LIS patients. SIGNIFICANCE: LIS is accompanied by a functional impairment of cortical neuronal synchronization mechanisms in the resting state condition.

Changes in the coherence of cortical biopotentials during performance of a verbal creative task in men and women.

Changes in EEG coherence patterns evoked by performance of a verbal creative task were studied in 14 men and 13 women (university students). EEG coherence was calculated in six frequency ranges from 4 to 30 Hz. The experiment consisted of two series: in the first, the task was performed with the instruction to "create a sentence;" in the second, the instruction was to "create an original sentence." Independently of the instruction given, the reactivity of total coherence of biopotentials (experimental data minus the corresponding baseline measure) in all subjects was negative in the theta-1 and alpha-2 frequency ranges, while reactivity in the beta-2 range was positive. Gender-related differences linked with the type of experimental instruction were seen in changes in intrahemisphere coherence of biopotentials, and these were indifferent in relation to EEG frequencies. Performance of the verbal creative task with the instruction to "create an original sentence" was accompanied in women by substitution of right-hemisphere dominance (greater levels of coherence in the right hemisphere compared with the left) by left-hemisphere dominance as compared to performance with the instruction to "create a sentence," while the reverse changes were seen in men.

Anticipatory attentional suppression of visual features indexed by oscillatory alpha-band power increases: a high-density electrical mapping study.

Retinotopically specific increases in alpha-band ( approximately 10 Hz) oscillatory power have been strongly implicated in the suppression of processing for irrelevant parts of the visual field during the deployment of visuospatial attention. Here, we asked whether this alpha suppression mechanism also plays a role in the nonspatial anticipatory biasing of feature-based attention. Visual word cues informed subjects what the task-relevant feature of an upcoming visual stimulus (S2) was, while high-density electroencephalographic recordings were acquired. We examined anticipatory oscillatory activity in the Cue-to-S2 interval ( approximately 2 s). Subjects were cued on a trial-by-trial basis to attend to either the color or direction of motion of an upcoming dot field array, and to respond when they detected that a subset of the dots differed from the majority along the target feature dimension. We used the features of color and motion, expressly because they have well known, spatially separated cortical processing areas, to distinguish shifts in alpha power over areas processing each feature. Alpha power from dorsal regions increased when motion was the irrelevant feature (i.e., color was cued), and alpha power from ventral regions increased when color was irrelevant. Thus, alpha-suppression mechanisms appear to operate during feature-based selection in much the same manner as has been shown for space-based attention.

[Gender differences in EEG coherence changes during figural creative thinking: the efficacy coupling].

The study was aimed to explore the features of interaction between cortical areas during figural creative task performance in high- and low-creative men and women. We divided the participants into two groups with high and low creativity by the median of originality score. EEG was recorded at rest and during task performance (Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking "Incomplete figures"). The EEG coherence was computed in six frequency bands from theta1 to beta2. We analyzed the total values of coherence for each of 16 sites, calculated separately for intrahemispheric and interhemispheric connections. In the theta2, alphal, and alpha2 bands, coherence values decreased in task performance as compared to baseline in subjects with lower originality scores, whereas in subjects with higher scores, they increased in the theta2 and alpha1 bands. The decrease in the alpha2 band in the higher-creativity group was significantly lower in comparison with the decrease in the lower-score group. In the alpha2 band, the interaction of gender, creativity, laterality, and electrode position factors was also found during analysis of task-induced coherence changes. Further examination of the interaction showed the similarity of EEG coherence patterns in men and women with opposite creative abilities and higher values of task-induced coherence changes in the anterior regions of the left hemisphere and posterior regions of the right hemisphere in high-creative in comparison with low-creative men. The findings are discussed in terms of different cognitive strategies used by men and women that may have the same results in creative problem solving.

Tobacco smoking produces widespread dominant brain wave alpha frequency increases.

The major pharmacological ingredient in tobacco smoke is nicotine, a mild stimulant known to alter brain electrical activity. The objective of this study was to determine if tobacco smoking in humans produces localized or widespread neocortical dominant alpha electroencephalographic (EEG) frequency increases consistent with nicotine stimulation of the brainstem activating system in animals. Twenty-two male volunteer non-deprived tobacco smokers were studied. They were asked not to smoke for at least 1h before the experiment in mid-morning as part of their usual smoking schedule. In the laboratory, they sham smoked and then smoked their favorite tobacco cigarette. Two experimental sessions (#1 and #2) were conducted, separated by a one to two month interval. In both sessions, there were minor statistically significant increases in the dominant alpha frequencies after sham smoking. In both sessions, after the subjects smoked a favorite tobacco cigarette there was a significant generalized increase in dominant alpha EEG frequencies in most scalp recording sites. This study demonstrates that tobacco smoking produces widespread bilateral neocortical increases in dominant alpha EEG frequencies consistent with the stimulant effects of nicotine on the brainstem reticular activating system.

The functional Val158Met polymorphism of COMT predicts interindividual differences in brain alpha oscillations in young men.

Individual patterns of the electroencephalogram (EEG) in wakefulness and sleep are among the most heritable traits in humans, yet distinct genetic and neurochemical mechanisms underlying EEG phenotypes are largely unknown. A functional polymorphism in the gene encoding catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), an enzyme playing an important role in cortical dopamine metabolism, causes a common substitution of methionine (Met) for valine (Val) at codon 158 of COMT protein. Val allele homozygotes exhibit higher COMT activity and lower dopaminergic signaling in prefrontal cortex than Met/Met homozygotes. Evidence suggests that this polymorphism affects executive functions in healthy individuals. We hypothesized that it also modulates functional aspects of EEG in wakefulness and sleep. EEG recordings were conducted twice on separate occasions in 10 Val/Val and 12 Met/Met allele carriers (all men) in wakefulness, and in baseline and recovery sleep before and after 40 h prolonged waking. During sleep deprivation, subjects received placebo and modafinil in randomized, cross-over manner. We show that the Val158Met polymorphism predicts stable and frequency-specific, interindividual variation in brain alpha oscillations. Alpha peak frequency in wakefulness was 1.4 Hz slower in Val/Val genotype than in Met/Met genotype. Moreover, Val/Val allele carriers exhibited less 11-13 Hz activity than Met/Met homozygotes in wakefulness, rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, and non-REM sleep. This difference was resistant against the effects of sleep deprivation and modafinil. The data demonstrate that mechanisms involving COMT contribute to interindividual differences in brain alpha oscillations, which are functionally related to executive performance such as counting tendency on a random number generation task in young adults.

Source analysis of alpha rhythm reactivity using LORETA imaging with 64-channel EEG and individual MRI.

Conventional EEG and quantitative EEG visual stimuli (close-open eyes) reactivity analysis have shown their usefulness in clinical practice; however studies at the level of EEG generators are limited. The focus of the study was visual reactivity of cortical resources in healthy subjects and in a stroke patient. The 64 channel EEG and T1 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies were obtained from 32 healthy subjects and a middle cerebral artery stroke patient. Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA) was used to estimate EEG sources for both close eyes (CE) vs. open eyes (OE) conditions using individual MRI. The t-test was performed between source spectra of the two conditions. Thresholds for statistically significant t values were estimated by the local false discovery rate (lfdr) method. The Z transform was used to quantify the differences in cortical reactivity between the patient and healthy subjects. Closed-open eyes alpha reactivity sources were found mainly in posterior regions (occipito-parietal zones), extended in some cases to anterior and thalamic regions. Significant cortical reactivity sources were found in frequencies different from alpha (lower t-values). Significant changes at EEG reactivity sources were evident in the damaged brain hemisphere. Reactivity changes were also found in the "healthy" hemisphere when compared with the normal population. In conclusion, our study of brain sources of EEG alpha reactivity provides information that is not evident in the usual topographic analysis.

EEG alpha peak frequency analysis during memorizing of figures in patients with mild cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate spectral analysis of electroencephalograms (EEG) for the alpha frequency band during rest and cognitive stimulation in healthy adults and individuals with mild cognitive impairment. METHOD: We analyzed 56 EEGs from 28 patients, 7 men and 21 women, 12 of whom (40%) were controls, 16 patients with mild cognitive impairment (60%). Ages ranged from 61 to 83 years. All individuals were patients in the Psycho-geriatric Out-patients Clinic of LIM-27, of the Psychiatric Institute of the Clinicas Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, IPq-HCFMUSP, between 2004 and 2007. Each patient underwent two exams with an interval of at least six months between them. During the exam, performed after a period of wakefulness and rest, the patients memorized series of pictures. RESULTS: Analysis of spectral potential both at rest and during the memorizing task showed no statistical differences between baseline and final recordings. CONCLUSION: Spectral analysis of EEGs showed coherent results with the clinical stability of the patients evaluated but was unable to distinguish between the control group and patients with MCI. Future studies should include a larger sample and a longer follow up.

EEG alpha peak frequency analysis during memorizing of figures in patients with mild cognitive impairment / Análise do pico de frequência alfa do EEG durante a memorização de figuras em pacientes com comprometimento cognitivo leve

OBJECTIVE: To investigate spectral analysis of electroencephalograms (EEG) for the alpha frequency band during rest and cognitive stimulation in healthy adults and individuals with mild cognitive impairment. METHOD: We analyzed 56 EEGs from 28 patients, 7 men and 21 women, 12 of whom (40 percent) were controls, 16 patients with mild cognitive impairment (60 percent). Ages ranged from 61 to 83 years. All individuals were patients in the Psycho-geriatric Out-patients Clinic of LIM-27, of the Psychiatric Institute of the Clinicas Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, IPq-HCFMUSP, between 2004 and 2007. Each patient underwent two exams with an interval of at least six months between them. During the exam, performed after a period of wakefulness and rest, the patients memorized series of pictures. RESULTS: Analysis of spectral potential both at rest and during the memorizing task showed no statistical differences between baseline and final recordings. CONCLUSION: Spectral analysis of EEGs showed coherent results with the clinical stability of the patients evaluated but was unable to distinguish between the control group and patients with MCI. Future studies should include a larger sample and a longer follow up.

OBJETIVO: Realizar a análise espectral da banda de frequência alfa do EEG em adultos saudáveis, com comprometimento cognitivo leve (CCL), durante o repouso e a estimulação cognitiva. MÉTODO: Analisamos 56 EEGs de 28 pacientes, 7 homens e 21 mulheres, 12 dos quais (40 por cento) controles, 16 pacientes com CCL (60 por cento), com idades entre 61 a 83 anos.Todos os pacientes foram atendidos no serviço de psicogeriatria do LIM 27, do Instituto de Psiquiatria da Faculdade de Medicina da USP,entre os anos de 2004 a 2007, sendo que cada paciente realizou 2 exames com intervalo de 6 meses entre eles. Os registros dos EEGs foram realizados em repouso e durante a realização de atividade de memorização de figuras. RESULTADOS: A analise espectral durante o repouso e a tarefa de memorização não mostraram diferenças estatísticas entre os EEGs iniciais e finais. CONCLUSÃO: A análise espectral dos EEGs mostrou-se coerente com a estabilidade clínica dos dois grupos, no entanto não foi capaz de distinguir o grupo controle do grupo CCL. Estudos futuros deverão incluir um maior número de indivíduos por um tempo maior de seguimento.

[Cortex biopotential coherence changes in men and women during performance of verbal creative task].

Patterns of EEG coherence changes induced by performance of a verbal creative task were studied in 14 male and 13 female university students. EEG coherence was computed for six frequency bands in the range from 4 to 30 Hz. Experiment consisted of two series: in the first series, the task was performed under the instruction "to create sentences", in the second series under the instruction "to create original sentences". Independently of the instruction, coherence reactivity values (data of the experiment minus corresponding baseline data) were negative in the tetal and alpha2 ranges and positive in the beta2 range in all subjects. Sex differences related to the type of instruction were found in changes in the total reactivity values of intrahemispheric coherence (sum of intrahemispheric coherence reactivity values for the all frequency bands studied). The task performance under the instruction "to create original sentences" vs. the task performance under the instruction "to create sentences" was accompanied by changes of the right-hemispheric dominance (i.e. higher values of coherence in the right hemisphere than in the left hemisphere) to the left-hemispheric dominance in women and the opposite effect in men.

Brain correlates underlying creative thinking: EEG alpha activity in professional vs. novice dancers.

Neuroscientific research on creativity has revealed valuable insights into possible brain correlates underlying this complex mental ability domain. However, most of the studies investigated brain activity during the performance of comparatively simple (verbal) type of tasks and the majority of studies focused on samples of the normal population. In this study we investigate EEG activity in professional dancers (n=15) who have attained a high level of expertise in this domain. This group was compared with a group of novices (n=17) who have only basic experience in dancing and completed no comprehensive training in this field. The EEG was recorded during performance of two different dancing imagery tasks which differed with respect to creative demands. In the first task participants were instructed to mentally perform a dance which should be as unique and original as possible (improvisation dance). In the waltz task they were asked to imagine dancing the waltz, a standard dance which involves a sequence of monotonous steps (lower creative demands). In addition, brain activity was also measured during performance of the Alternative Uses test. We observed evidence that during the generation of alternative uses professional dancers show stronger alpha synchronization in posterior parietal brain regions than novice dancers. During improvisation dance, professional dancers exhibited more right-hemispheric alpha synchronization than the group of novices did, while during imagining dancing the waltz no significant group differences emerged. The findings complement and extend existing findings on the relationship between EEG alpha activity and creative thinking.

Dynamic and task-dependent encoding of speech and voice by phase reorganization of cortical oscillations.

Speech and vocal sounds are at the core of human communication. Cortical processing of these sounds critically depends on behavioral demands. However, the neurocomputational mechanisms enabling this adaptive processing remain elusive. Here we examine the task-dependent reorganization of electroencephalographic responses to natural speech sounds (vowels /a/, /i/, /u/) spoken by three speakers (two female, one male) while listeners perform a one-back task on either vowel or speaker identity. We show that dynamic changes of sound-evoked responses and phase patterns of cortical oscillations in the alpha band (8-12 Hz) closely reflect the abstraction and analysis of the sounds along the task-relevant dimension. Vowel categorization leads to a significant temporal realignment of responses to the same vowel, e.g., /a/, independent of who pronounced this vowel, whereas speaker categorization leads to a significant temporal realignment of responses to the same speaker, e.g., speaker 1, independent of which vowel she/he pronounced. This transient and goal-dependent realignment of neuronal responses to physically different external events provides a robust cortical coding mechanism for forming and processing abstract representations of auditory (speech) input.

The Visual Evoked Potential is independent of surface alpha rhythm phase.

A Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) is an electrical signal picked up by a surface electrode in response to the activation of visual cortex by a visual stimulus. Because the VEP is typically much smaller in magnitude than the ongoing spontaneous EEG signal, the VEP is derived by averaging a large number of responses time-locked to stimulus presentation. Standard theory has it that the VEP is independent of the ongoing EEG, however, there has long been a competing view that the VEP is caused by a partial phase reset of the spontaneous alpha rhythm. We calculated the VEP where stimuli were presented at four different phases of the ongoing alpha rhythm, and subtracted away the responses to null trials synchronized to the same alpha rhythm phases, creating estimates of the VEP as a function of ongoing alpha rhythm phase. For some subjects there was evidence of an interaction between the VEP and the phase of the ongoing alpha rhythm, but this was idiosyncratic between subjects and conditions, and mostly evident in a later period when the VEP magnitude was very small. However, in general the VEP is independent of the phase of the ongoing alpha rhythm, and hence cannot be primarily caused by a partial phase resetting of the spontaneous EEG. It is possible that the VEP is either a phase-reset of an ongoing oscillation, or an oscillation induced by the sudden onset of a stimulus, but it cannot be the same oscillation as the surface alpha.

Changes in human EEG alpha activity following exposure to two different pulsed magnetic field sequences.

The present study investigates the effects of a weak (+/-200 microT(pk)), pulsed, extremely low frequency magnetic field (ELF MF) upon the human electroencephalogram (EEG). We have previously determined that exposure to pulsed ELF MFs can affect the EEG, notably the alpha frequency (8-13 Hz) over the occipital-parietal region of the scalp. In the present study, subjects (n = 32) were exposed to two different pulsed MF sequences (1 and 2, used previously) that differed in presentation rate, in order to examine the effects upon the alpha frequency of the human EEG. Results suggest that compared to sham exposure, alpha activity was lowered over the occipital-parietal regions of the brain during exposure to Sequence 1, while alpha activity over the same regions was higher after Sequence 2 exposure. These effects occurred after approximately 5 min of pulsed MF exposure. The results also suggest that a previous exposure to the pulsed MF sequence determined subjects' responses in the present experiment. This study supports our previous observation of EEG changes after 5 min pulsed ELF MF exposure. The results of this study are also consistent with existing EEG experiments of ELF MF and mobile phone effects upon the brain.

[Motivation effect on frequency-spatial characteristics of figural and verbal creativity: coherence changes in biopotentials].

Effect of extrinsic motivation stimulating the most original problem solving during verbal and figural creativity testing was studied using the EEG coherence in the range of 4-30 Hz. The right-handed university students (27 males and 26 females) participated in the experiments. The instruction "to create the most original solution" (INS2) as compared to the instruction "to create any solution" (INS1) produced an increase in baseline coherence and task-related desynchronization in the alphal2 bands. This effect was more pronounced in the anterior cortex. Changes in the beta2 rhythm were found mostly in the posterior cortex and were presented by a decreased task-induced beta2 synchronization after INS2 vs. INS1. Instruction-related coherence changes in the alphal band did not depend on factors of gender and task type, whereas the effects of these factors on the alpha2 and beta2 bands were significant. Gender differences in instruction-related coherence changes were found in the alpha2 band during verbal creativity testing, whereas figural creativity was associated with gender-dependent instruction-related changes in the beta2 band. These differences were more pronounced in the INS1 condition. The results demonstrate that extrinsic motivation of creative thinking promotes the frequency-specific reorganization of hemispheric interactions. High-frequency widespread cortical oscillations are of greater significance in men, whereas low-frequency rhythms and, mainly, functioning of the frontal cortex greatly contribute to creative activity in women.

Discrepancies between preoperative stereoencephalography language stimulation mapping and intraoperative awake mapping during resection of focal cortical dysplasia in eloquent areas.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To compare the reliability of preoperative stereoencephalography (SEEG) and intraoperative electrostimulation regarding functional mapping, and to select the indication for surgery for focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) in language areas. METHODS: The authors present the case of a 21-year-old, right-handed female, suffering from chronic pharmacologically resistant epilepsy since the age of 8. MRI showed a subcortical hypersignal on FLAIR and T(2) sequences at the posterior end of the left superior temporal sulcus compatible with an FCD. SEEG invasive monitoring was performed to precisely identify the epileptogenic zone (EZ) and for functional language mapping. RESULTS: The stimulation of the contacts implicated in the EZ through SEEG leads induced language disturbances, which were not reproducible. Surgery was performed under local anesthesia with awake corticosubcortical mapping. Direct intraoperative stimulation in the EZ, including FCD, did not induce language disturbances. Thus, EZ could be removed completely without any postoperative language deficit. CONCLUSIONS: The present case suggests that when language disturbances which occur during invasive SEEG functional mapping, in eloquent areas, are not reproducible, resection can be considered using intraoperative electrical mapping, without inducing permanent language impairment. This may be explained by a certain degree of plasticity and reshaping of functional areas associated with a congenital lesion and chronic epilepsy.

Neuronal mechanisms of cortical alpha oscillations in awake-behaving macaques.

Field potential oscillations at approximately 10 Hz (alpha rhythm) are widely noted in the visual cortices, but their physiological mechanisms and significance are poorly understood. In vitro studies have implicated pyramidal neurons in both infragranular and supragranular layers as pacemakers. The generality of these observations for the intact brain in the behaving subject is unknown. We analyzed laminar profiles of spontaneous local field potentials and multiunit activity (MUA) recorded with linear array multielectrodes from visual areas V2, V4, and inferotemporal (IT) cortex of two macaque monkeys during performance of a sensory discrimination task. Current source density (CSD) analysis was combined with CSD-MUA coherence to identify intracortical alpha current generators and their potential for alpha pacemaking. The role of each alpha current generator was further delineated by Granger causality analyses. In V2 and V4, alpha current generators were found in all layers, with the infragranular generator acting as primary local pacemaking generator. In contrast, in IT, alpha current generators were found only in supragranular and infragranular layers, with the supragranular generator acting as primary local pacemaking generator. The amplitude of alpha activity in V2 and V4 was negatively correlated with behavioral performance, whereas the opposite was true in IT. The alpha rhythm in IT thus appears to differ from that in the lower-order cortices, both in terms of its underlying physiological mechanism and its behavioral correlates. This work may help to reconcile some of the diverse findings and conclusions on the functional significance of alpha band oscillations in the visual system.

[Characteristics of ladasten effect in neurasthenia patients with various EEG parameters].

Clinical and electroencephalographic (EEG) analysis ofladasten action in anxiety-asthenic patients with respect to their EEG-defined individual typological characteristics was carried out. Primary psychopathologic disorders and ladasten effects were assessed by objective classification methods (factor and cluster analyses), and individual EEG types characterized by marked or reduced alpha rhythm were determined. No significant correlations between baseline EEG results and the initial mental condition indices were found. Significant differences ofladasten action in patients with different EEG types were found. It was established that, in patients with marked alpha rhythm corresponding to asthenic personal traits, ladasten exhibits predominantly a psychostimulant action assessed by clinical rating scales, which is accompanied by high frequencies of alpha rhythm increase and beta 1 and beta 2 rhythms decrease. In patients with reduced alpha rhythm and the EEG type corresponding to asthenic personal traits, ladasten action was characterized by an increase of alpha-rhythm low frequencies and the opposite reaction of beta 1 and beta 2 rhythms, whose are typical for the EEG pattern of anxiolytic effect. These results may indicate that the effect of ladasten depends on the initial brain activity level, which varies in patients with different individual typological traits.

Asymmetric amplitude modulations of brain oscillations generate slow evoked responses.

Electrophysiological data measured by electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography (MEG) are widely used to investigate human brain activity in various cognitive tasks. This is typically done by characterizing event-related potentials/fields or modulations of oscillatory activity (e.g., event-related synchronization) in response to cognitively relevant stimuli. Here, we provide a link between the two phenomena. An essential component of our theory is that peaks and troughs of oscillatory activity fluctuate asymmetrically; e.g., peaks are more strongly modulated than troughs in response to stimuli. As a consequence, oscillatory brain activity will not "average out" when multiple trials are averaged. Using MEG, we demonstrate that such asymmetric amplitude fluctuations of the oscillatory alpha rhythm explain the generation of slow event-related fields. Furthermore, we provide a physiological explanation for the observed asymmetric amplitude fluctuations. In particular, slow event-related components are modulated by a wide range of cognitive tasks. Hence, our findings provide new insight into the physiological basis of cognitive modulation in event-related brain activity.

Alpha phase coupling reflects object recognition.

In the present study, we investigate the role of upper alpha oscillations for semantic access and retrieval processes. In each of a series of trials, subjects were presented trains of distorted pictures (with decreasing levels of degradation), and were asked to respond as quickly as possible when they recognize the meaning of the picture. The results show that during the time-window of picture recognition, upper alpha power decreased but inter-areal phase synchronization increased as compared to meaningless control pictures. We assume that synchronous alpha oscillations--particularly during a decrease in alpha power--reflect topographically specific neural network activity that is related to the access of semantic information in LTM.