Power and temporal dynamics of alpha oscillations at rest differentiate cognitive performance involving sustained and phasic cognitive control.

Resting state neuronal activity in EEG/MEG recordings is primarily characterized by the presence of alpha oscillations (approx. 8-12 Hz). However, their functional significance and link to cognitive task performance remains elusive. We investigated resting state neuronal activity and its relation to task performance by assessing traditional measures of alpha activity (power and individual alpha peak frequency) and dynamic properties of the signal measured by long-range temporal correlations (LRTC). Multichannel EEG was recorded at rest in 82 healthy male adults and compared to their cognitive performance, measured by tests involving executive functions, working memory, short- and long-term memory demands. Our results showed that attention-span scores positively correlated with alpha power at rest, with corresponding neuronal sources located primarily in the left-hemispheric anterior cingulate cortex, parietal regions, and bilateral suplementary motor areas. Furthermore, better working memory performance was related to increased LRTC of alpha oscillations at rest in the right hemispheric fronto-parietal, temporal, and occipital regions. Our findings suggest that resting state neuronal activity may reflect properties of brain networks that are functionally relevant for cognitive task performance. While alpha power measured at rest might relate to tasks that employ sustained inhibitory control, LRTC are suggested to reflect the capacity of neuronal networks to perform tasks that require phasic attention and quick adaptation to changing task demands.

The influence of spontaneous brain oscillations on apparent motion perception.

A good example of inferential processes in perception is long-range apparent motion (AM), the illusory percept of visual motion that occurs when two spatially distinct stationary visual objects are presented in alternating sequence. The AM illusion is strongest at presentation frequencies around 3 Hz. At lower presentation frequencies, the percept varies from trial to trial between AM and sequential alternation, while at higher frequencies perception varies between AM and two simultaneously flickering objects. Previous studies have demonstrated that prestimulus alpha oscillations explain trial-to-trial variability in detection performance for visual stimuli presented at threshold. In the present study, we investigated whether fluctuations of prestimulus alpha oscillations can also account for variations in AM perception. Prestimulus alpha power was stronger when observers reported AM perception in subsequent trials with low presentation frequencies, while at high presentation frequencies there were no significant differences in alpha power preceding AM and veridical flicker perception. Moreover, when observers perceived AM the prestimulus functional connectivity between frontal and occipital channels was increased in the alpha band, as revealed by the imaginary part of coherency, which is insensitive to artefacts from volume conduction. Dynamic causal modelling of steady-state responses revealed that the most likely direction of this fronto-occipital connectivity was from frontal to occipital sources. These results point to a role of ongoing alpha oscillations in the inferential process that gives rise to the perception of AM and suggest that fronto-occipital interactions bias perception towards internally generated predictions.

No somatotopy of sensorimotor alpha-oscillation responses to differential finger stimulation.

The somatotopic layout of the primary somatosensory cortex is known for its fine spatial structure as delineated in single cell recordings and macroscopic EEG evoked responses. While a gross somatotopic layout has been revealed also for neuronal oscillations responding to sensorimotor stimulation of distant body parts (e.g. hand vs. foot), it is still unclear whether these oscillatory dynamics exhibit fine spatial layout comparable to those found in evoked responses. In twelve healthy subjects we applied electric stimuli to the first (D1) and fifth finger (D5) of the same hand while performing high-density electroencephalography. We used Common Spatial Pattern analysis to optimally extract components showing the strongest Event-Related Desynchronization (ERD) in neuronal alpha oscillations. In agreement with the previous studies, dipole locations of Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SEPs) confirmed the existence of spatially distinct representations of each finger. In contrast, dipole locations of alpha-ERD patterns did not yield spatially different source locations, indicating that the stimulation of different fingers most likely resulted in oscillatory activity of overlapping neuronal populations. When both fingers were stimulated simultaneously the SEP dipole strength was found increased in comparison to a stimulation of either finger alone, in agreement with spatially distinct SEP to finger stimulation. The strength of ERD, on the other hand, was the same regardless of whether either one or both fingers were stimulated. Our findings might reflect anatomical constraints on the sequential temporal activation of fingers' skin where almost simultaneous activation of many fingers usually occurs in everyday activities, such as grasping or holding objects. Such simultaneity is unlikely to benefit from slow amplitude modulation of alpha oscillations, which would rather be beneficial for contrasting somatosensory processing of distinct body parts.

Human cortical dynamics during full-body heading changes.

The retrosplenial complex (RSC) plays a crucial role in spatial orientation by computing heading direction and translating between distinct spatial reference frames based on multi-sensory information. While invasive studies allow investigating heading computation in moving animals, established non-invasive analyses of human brain dynamics are restricted to stationary setups. To investigate the role of the RSC in heading computation of actively moving humans, we used a Mobile Brain/Body Imaging approach synchronizing electroencephalography with motion capture and virtual reality. Data from physically rotating participants were contrasted with rotations based only on visual flow. During physical rotation, varying rotation velocities were accompanied by pronounced wide frequency band synchronization in RSC, the parietal and occipital cortices. In contrast, the visual flow rotation condition was associated with pronounced alpha band desynchronization, replicating previous findings in desktop navigation studies, and notably absent during physical rotation. These results suggest an involvement of the human RSC in heading computation based on visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive input and implicate revisiting traditional findings of alpha desynchronization in areas of the navigation network during spatial orientation in movement-restricted participants.

Quasi-movements: a novel motor-cognitive phenomenon.

We introduce quasi-movements and define them as volitional movements which are minimized by the subject to such an extent that finally they become undetectable by objective measures. They are intended as overt movements, but the absence of the measurable motor responses and the subjective experience make quasi-movements similar to motor imagery. We used the amplitude dynamics of electroencephalographic alpha oscillations as a marker of the regional involvement of cortical areas in three experimental tasks: movement execution, kinesthetic motor imagery, and quasi-movements. All three conditions were associated with a significant suppression of alpha oscillations over the sensorimotor hand area of the contralateral hemisphere. This suppression was strongest for executed movements, and stronger for quasi-movements than for motor imagery. The topography of alpha suppression was similar in all three conditions. Proprioceptive sensations related to quasi-movements contribute to the assumption that the "sense of movement" can originate from central efferent processes. Quasi-movements are also congruent with the postulated continuity between motor imagery and movement preparation/execution. We also show that in healthy subjects quasi-movements can be effectively used in brain-computer interface research leading to a significantly smaller classification error ( approximately 47% of relative decrease) in comparison to the errors obtained with conventionally used motor imagery strategies.

Corticomuscular coherence in acute and chronic stroke.

OBJECTIVE: Motor recovery after stroke is attributed to neuronal plasticity, however not all post-stroke neuronal changes relate to regaining fine motor control. Corticomuscular coherence (CMC) is a measure allowing to trace neuronal reorganizations which are functionally relevant for motor recovery. Contrary to previous studies which were performed only in chronic stage, we measured CMC in patients with stroke at both acute and chronic stroke stages. METHODS: For the detection of CMC we used multichannel EEG and EMG recordings along with an optimization algorithm for the detection of corticomuscular interactions. RESULTS: In acute stroke, the CMC amplitude was larger on the unaffected side compared to the affected side and also larger compared to the unaffected side in the chronic period. Additionally, CMC peak frequencies on both sides decreased in the acute compared to the chronic period and to control subjects. In chronic stage, there were no inter-hemispheric or group differences in CMC amplitude or frequency. CONCLUSIONS: The changes in CMC parameters in acute stroke could result from a temporary decrease in inhibition, which normalizes in the course of recovery. As all patients showed very good motor recovery, the modulation of CMC amplitude and frequency over time might thus reflect the process of motor recovery. SIGNIFICANCE: We demonstrate for the first time the dynamical changes of corticomuscular interaction both at acute and chronic stage of stroke.

Modulation of cortical neural dynamics during thalamic deep brain stimulation in patients with essential tremor.

Although thalamic deep brain stimulation is an effective treatment for patients with essential tremor, little is known about its effect on cortical neural dynamics. Therefore, we investigated long-range temporal correlations and spectral power in electroencephalographic recordings of patients during OFF versus ON bilateral thalamic deep brain stimulation in comparison with healthy controls. Cortical dynamics were analyzed in the range of 6-30 Hz. We found the presence of long-range temporal correlations up to 20 s in patients and controls. Thalamic deep brain stimulation was associated with increased long-range temporal correlations in the high beta band (21-30 Hz) and decreased power in the low beta band (13-20 Hz) compared with OFF stimulation and healthy controls. Long-range temporal correlations in the 6-10 Hz range were increased with OFF stimulation compared with the controls. Importantly, deep brain stimulation-induced changes in long-range temporal correlations within 6-10 Hz and in the beta ranges (13-20, 21-30 Hz) were correlated with OFF-ON changes in the tremor severity and with the disease duration, respectively. The differential reactivity of long-range temporal correlations and spectral power to deep brain stimulation might suggest that both measures reflect distinct aspects of cortical dynamics and might represent biomarkers for stimulation-induced modulations of neural dynamics in electroencephalography. The fact that long-range temporal correlations, but not spectral power, were correlated with clinical information might suggest long-range temporal correlations as a potential marker for disease severity in essential tremor.

Visual stimuli evoke rapid activation (120 ms) of sensorimotor cortex for overt but not for covert movements.

Overt and covert movements (e.g., motor imagery) have been frequently demonstrated to engage common neuronal substrates in the motor system. However, it is an open question whether this similarity is also present during early stages of stimulus-processing. We utilized the high temporal resolution of multi-channel electroencephalography (EEG) in order to test whether the prior action intention (overt vs. covert movements) differentially modulates early stimulus-processing stages in the cortical sensorimotor system. The subjects performed overt or covert movements contingent upon an instructive visual stimulus (indicating left or right hand performance). We introduced a novel measure, LRPrect, calculated as Lateralized Readiness Potentials from rectified EEG signals. This measure overcomes a problem related to the EEG signal variability due to polarity differences in the spatial distribution of neuronal sources. The LRPrect showed an activation already at 120 ms after stimulus onset (latN120) focally over sensorimotor cortices contralateral to the upcoming hand movement, yet only for overt but not covert movements. Thus the prior action intention differentially routes early stimulus-processing into the sensorimotor system, which might contribute to significantly different behavioral outcomes, i.e., movement generation or inhibition. The present results have implications for studies of motor inhibition and action intention.

Covert movements trigger repetition suppression of electroencephalography in sensorimotor cortex.

'Repetition suppression' (RS) denotes the decrease of neural responses to repeated external sensory stimuli. We showed that RS can be also triggered by internal processes alone. When individuals perform repetitive covert movements, that is, motor imagery or quasi-movements, both of which are associated with pericentral cortical activity without muscle activations, there was a significant recovery of electroencephalographic oscillations over sensorimotor cortices back to resting baseline level. After 58 s of task performance only 20% of α and 5% of ß suppressions remained (overt movements: 34% remaining in α, complete recovery in ß). This result suggests that various, possibly all, repeated cerebral activations are associated with RS, presumably reflecting the adaptation to stereotyped activation in neural networks.

Event-related desynchronization of sensorimotor EEG rhythms in hemiparetic patients with acute stroke.

Previous neuroimaging studies based on neurovascular coupling have shown that stroke affects both, strength and spatial extent of brain activation during upper limb movements. Here, we investigated the sub-second amplitude dynamics of a direct neuronal measure, i.e., event-related desynchronization (ERD) of EEG oscillations during finger movements, in patients with acute cortical and subcortical stroke. Acute cortical strokes were found to decrease the ERD of alpha oscillations for the affected pericentral sensorimotor areas compared to a control group. Within the cortical stroke group, the affected hemisphere showed a smaller alpha-ERD compared to the unaffected hemisphere when each was contralateral to the acting hand. Furthermore, when cortical stroke patients moved their paretic hand, the ipsilateral (i.e., contralesional) alpha-ERD was stronger than the contralateral (ipsilesional) ERD. Interestingly, the alpha-ERD amplitude in a hemisphere with a cortical stroke was relatively well preserved for non-paretic hand movements compared to alpha-ERD amplitude for paretic hand movements. This finding provides a new perspective for assessing the rehabilitative potential, which could be utilized through training of the still responsive cortical network, e.g., via enforced use of the paretic hand.

Effect of complete stimulus predictability on P3 and N2 components: an electroencephalographic study.

In everyday life one may encounter both unpredictable and self-initiated, hence anticipated, events. Here, we analyzed the effects of self-initiated auditory stimulus presentation on P3 and N2 components in an oddball paradigm. If the stimulus sequence was fully self-determined, both components were attenuated in comparison with computer-controlled representation. In contrast, both components were increased when only the stimulus onset was self-initiated, yet the forthcoming stimulus type was unknown. We hypothesize that predictive forward models offer an unifying explanation for the modulation of both P3 and N2 through: (a) attenuation of neuronal responses to anticipated stimuli contingent on one's own motor action and (b) enhancement of responses in case of incongruity between an anticipated action effect and the actual perceptual consequences.