Event-induced modulation of aperiodic background EEG: Attention-dependent and age-related shifts in E:I balance, and their consequences for behavior

Kałamała, Patrycja, Gyurkovics, Máté ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4483-3736, Bowie, Daniel C., Clements, Grace M., Low, Kathy A., Dolcos, Florin, Fabiani, Monica and Gratton, Gabriele (2024) Event-induced modulation of aperiodic background EEG: Attention-dependent and age-related shifts in E:I balance, and their consequences for behavior. Imaging Neuroscience, 2. pp. 1-18. ISSN 2837-6056

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Abstract

The broadband shape of the EEG spectrum, summarized using the slope of a 1/fx function, is thought to reflect the balance between excitation and inhibition in cortical regions (E:I balance). This balance is an important characteristic of neural circuits and could inform studies of aging, as older adults show a relative deficit in inhibitory activity. Thus far, no studies have leveraged the event-related temporal dynamics of 1/fx activity to better understand the phases of information processing, especially in the context of aging. Here, for the first time, we examined variations of this activity during the foreperiod of a cued flanker task in younger (YA) and older adults (OA), with picture cues varying in task relevance, relative novelty, and valence. We report a biphasic change in the spectral slope after cue presentation, independent of cue-elicited event-related potentials (ERPs), with an initial period of steeper slope (indicating cortical inhibition, similar in YA and OA) followed by a flattening (indicating cortical excitation, especially in OA). The reduction in slope steepness was associated with lower performance and greater congruency costs in the flanker task. Finally, more novel cues reduced the shift towards excitation in OA, partly restoring their E:I balance, and diminishing congruency costs. These findings demonstrate that the broadband shape of the EEG spectrum varies dynamically in a manner that is predictive of subsequent behavior. They also expand our understanding of how neural communication shapes cognition in YA and OA and has implications for neuroscientific models of cognitive processing and age-related cognitive decline.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data and Code Availability: Deidentified data and code are available on OSF, https://osf.io/dfbwa/. Funding information: This work was supported by NIA grant RF1AG062666 to G. Gratton and M. Fabiani. P. Kałamała was supported by National Science Centre Poland grant 2020/36/T/HS6/00363 and Strategic Program Excellence Initiative at the Jagiellonian University, Poland.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	3* ,/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/REFrank/3_
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Related URLs:	https://direct.mit.edu/imag/article/doi/...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	13 Aug 2024 12:30
Last Modified:	17 Oct 2024 10:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/96226
DOI:	10.1162/imag_a_00054

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