Abstract
In the brain, resting-state activity refers to non-random patterns of intrinsic activity occurring when participants are not actively engaged in a task. We monitored resting-state activity using electroencephalogram (EEG) both before and after a verbal recognition task. We show a strong positive correlation between accuracy in verbal recognition and pre-task resting-state alpha power at posterior sites. We further characterized this effect by examining resting-state post-task activity. We found marked alterations in resting-state alpha power when comparing pre- and post-task periods, with more pronounced alterations in participants that attained higher task accuracy. These findings support a dynamical view of cognitive processes where patterns of ongoing brain activity can facilitate –or interfere– with optimal task performance.
Highlights
Resting-state brain activity is characterized by complex and highly non-random patterns of intrinsic activity generated while the brain is not actively involved in a task [1]
Our goal was to investigate the relationship between restingstate EEG and performance during a verbal recognition task in which participants identified repeated and novel words
Participants whose pre-task alpha-band resting-state activity was higher attained greater accuracy in verbal recognition and this effect was topographically delimited to a central-posterior (Pz) site
Summary
Resting-state brain activity is characterized by complex and highly non-random patterns of intrinsic activity generated while the brain is not actively involved in a task [1]. Despite much attention in recent work, a clear characterization of the links between resting-state before and after cognitive performance is lacking. Task-induced oscillations obtained with EEG show that frequency-specific activity is associated with cognitive processes, including attention and memory [4]. Both theta (4–7 Hz) and alpha (8–12 Hz) power, for instance, have been associated with working memory processes [5,6,7,8,9] as well as selective attention [10,11]. The magnitude of change in alpha power from pre-task resting activity to task-related activity predicted episodic memory performance [13]
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