Errors elicit frontoparietal theta-gamma coupling that is modulated by endogenous estradiol levels

Abstract

Cognitive control-related error monitoring is intimately involved in behavioral adaptation, learning, and individual differences in a variety of psychological traits and disorders. Accumulating evidence suggests that a focus on women's health and ovarian hormones is critical to the study of such cognitive brain functions. Here we sought to identify a novel index of error monitoring using a time-frequency based phase amplitude coupling (t-f PAC) measure and examine its modulation by endogenous levels of estradiol in females. Forty-three healthy, naturally cycling young adult females completed a flanker task while continuous electroencephalogram was recorded on four occasions across the menstrual cycle. Results revealed significant error-related t-f PAC between theta phase generated in fronto-central areas and gamma amplitude generated in parietal-occipital areas. Moreover, this error-related theta-gamma coupling was enhanced by endogenous levels of estradiol both within females across the cycle as well as between females with higher levels of average circulating estradiol. While the role of frontal midline theta in error processing is well documented, this paper extends the extant literature by illustrating that error monitoring involves the coordination between multiple distributed systems with the slow midline theta activity modulating the power of gamma-band oscillatory activity in parietal regions. They further show enhancement of inter-regional coupling by endogenous estradiol levels, consistent with research indicating modulation of cognitive control neural functions by the endocrine system in females. Together, this work identifies a novel neurophysiological marker of cognitive control-related error monitoring in females that has implications for neuroscience and women's health.