TY  - JOUR
A1  - Cesnaite, Elena
A1  - Steinfath, Paul
A1  - Jamshidi Idaji, Mina
A1  - Stephani, Tilman
A1  - Kumral, Deniz
A1  - Haufe, Stefan
A1  - Sander, Christian
A1  - Hensch, Tilman
A1  - Hegerl, Ulrich
A1  - Riedel-Heller, Steffi Gerlinde
A1  - Röhr, Susanne
A1  - Schroeter, Matthias
A1  - Witte, A. Veronica
A1  - Villringer, Arno
A1  - Nikulin, Vadim V.
T1  - Alterations in rhythmic and non‐rhythmic resting‐state EEG activity and their link to cognition in older age
T2  - NeuroImage
N2  - Highlights
• A big dataset reveals age-related alterations in EEG biomarkers and cognition.
• Prominent decline of individual alpha peak frequency primarily in temporal lobes.
• A positive association between individual alpha peak frequency and working memory.
• Absence of age-related alpha power decline when controlling for 1/f decay of the PSD.
• Alpha power is negatively associated with the speed of processing in elderly sample.
Abstract
While many structural and biochemical changes in the brain have previously been associated with older age, findings concerning functional properties of neuronal networks, as reflected in their electrophysiological signatures, remain rather controversial. These discrepancies might arise due to several reasons, including diverse factors determining general spectral slowing in the alpha frequency range as well as amplitude mixing between the rhythmic and non-rhythmic parameters. We used a large dataset (N = 1703, mean age 70) to comprehensively investigate age-related alterations in multiple EEG biomarkers taking into account rhythmic and non-rhythmic activity and their individual contributions to cognitive performance. While we found strong evidence for an individual alpha peak frequency (IAF) decline in older age, we did not observe a significant relationship between theta power and age while controlling for IAF. Not only did IAF decline with age, but it was also positively associated with interference resolution in a working memory task primarily in the right and left temporal lobes suggesting its functional role in information sampling. Critically, we did not detect a significant relationship between alpha power and age when controlling for the 1/f spectral slope, while the latter one showed age-related alterations. These findings thus suggest that the entanglement of IAF slowing and power in the theta frequency range, as well as 1/f slope and alpha power measures, might explain inconsistencies reported previously in the literature. Finally, despite the absence of age-related alterations, alpha power was negatively associated with the speed of processing in the right frontal lobe while 1/f slope showed no consistent relationship to cognitive performance. Our results thus demonstrate that multiple electrophysiological features, as well as their interplay, should be considered for the comprehensive assessment of association between age, neuronal activity, and cognitive performance.
KW  - EEG
KW  - Aging
KW  - Periodic
KW  - Aperiodic
KW  - Cognition
Y1  - 2022
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/78794
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-787941
SN  - 1053-8119
VL  - 268.2023
IS  - 119810
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -