Theta Responses Research Articles

Adolescent cognitive control, theta oscillations, and social observation

Theta oscillations (4–8 Hz) provide an organizing principle of cognitive control, allowing goal-directed behavior. In adults, theta power over medial-frontal cortex (MFC) underlies conflict/error monitoring, whereas theta connectivity between MFC and lateral-frontal regions reflects cognitive control recruitment. However, prior work has not separated theta responses that occur before and immediately after a motor response, nor explained how medial-lateral connectivity drives different kinds of control behaviors. Theta's role during adolescence, a developmental window characterized by a motivation-control mismatch also remains unclear. As social observation is known to influence motivation, this might be a particularly important context for studying adolescent theta dynamics. Here, adolescents performed a flanker task alone or under social observation. Focusing first on the nonsocial context, we parsed cognitive control into dissociable subprocesses, illustrating how theta indexes distinct components of cognitive control working together dynamically to produce goal-directed behavior. We separated theta power immediately before/after motor responses, identifying behavioral links to conflict monitoring and error monitoring, respectively. MFC connectivity was separated before/after responses and behaviorally-linked to reactive and proactive control, respectively. Finally, distinct forms of post-error control were dissociated, based on connectivity with rostral/caudal frontal cortex. Social observation was found to exclusively upregulate theta measures indexing post-response error monitoring and proactive control, as opposed to conflict monitoring and reactive control. Linking adolescent cognitive control to theta oscillations provides a bridge between non-invasive recordings in humans and mechanistic studies of neural oscillations in animal models; links to social observation provide insight into the motivation-control interactions that occur during adolescence.

Music-Induced Brain Functional Connectivity Using EEG Sensors: A Study on Indian Music

Music is promoted in all traditions for the well-being of the listener. The 2-D emotion models and their effects on the brain were analyzed while listening to selected raga and at Rest. This paper visualized the functional connectivity of emotional responses to Indian Dharmavathi raga, thereby locating the similar regions across the electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor pairs. The international 10–20 sensor placement system was followed for recording EEG signals. The stimulus-based functional associations were noted, which help in investigating the neuronal synchronization. Asymmetrical alpha band energy was noticed in the frontal locations where the energy was low at F3 and F7 positions compared with F4 and F8 sensor positions. This indicates that it induces a positive emotion. The relative theta band energy at frontal locations was increased during Task (listening to Dharmavathi raga) as compared with Rest (silence) condition. The relative energy of beta band at frontal locations was significantly decreased after listening to raga. While listening to Dharmavathi raga, alpha band energy on the left frontal region was appeared to be low, and high energy was observed on the right frontal region. The raga played was evoked an increased bi-frontal theta response, which indicates that the raga is pleasant and induces mood change after listening.

Frontal theta predicts specific cognitive control-induced behavioural changes beyond general reaction time slowing

Investigations into the neurophysiological underpinnings of control suggest that frontal theta activity is increased with the need for control. However, these studies typically show this link by reporting associations between increased theta and RT slowing – a process that is contemporaneous with cognitive control but does not strictly reflect the specific use of control. In this study, we assessed frontal theta responses that underpinned the switch cost in task switching – a specific index of cognitive control that does not rely exclusively on RT slowing. Here, we utilised a single-trial regression approach to assess 1) how cognitive control demands beyond simple RT slowing were linked to midfrontal theta and 2) whether midfrontal theta effects remained stable over time. In a large cohort that included a longitudinal subsample, we found that midfrontal theta was modulated by switch costs, with enhanced theta power when preparing to switch vs. repeating a task. These effects were reliable after a two-year interval (Cronbach's α.39-0.74). In contrast, we found that trial-by-trial modulations of midfrontal theta power predicted the size of the switch cost – so that switch trials with increased theta produced smaller switch costs. Interestingly, these relationships between theta and behaviour were less stable over time (Cronbach's α 0-0.61), with participants first using both delta and theta bands to influence behaviour whereas after two years only theta associations with behaviour remained. Together, these findings suggest midfrontal theta supports the need for control beyond simple RT slowing and reveal that midfrontal theta effects remain relatively stable over time.

EEG theta and alpha responses in patients with parkinson's disease with and without hallucinations

EEG theta and alpha responses in patients with parkinson's disease with and without hallucinations

Frontal theta response in parkinson's disease during auditory and visual cognitive paradigms

Frontal theta response in parkinson's disease during auditory and visual cognitive paradigms

Oscillatory Correlates of Control over Working Memory Gating and Updating: An EEG Study Using the Reference-back Paradigm.

Optimal working memory (WM) functioning depends on a control mechanism that balances between maintenance and updating by closing or opening the gate to WM, respectively. Here, we examined the neural oscillation correlates of WM updating and of the control processes involved in gating. The reference-back paradigm was employed to manipulate gate opening, gate closing, and updating independently and examine how the control functions involved in these processes are mapped to oscillatory EEG activity. The results established that different oscillatory patterns were associated with the control process related to gate opening than in gate closing. During the time of gate closing, a relative increase in theta power was observed over midfrontal electrodes. This theta response is a known EEG signature of cognitive control that is proposed here to reflect reactive conflict resolution, achieved by closing the gate when facing irrelevant information. On the other hand, proactive gate opening in preparation for relevant information was associated with an increase in relative delta power over parietal-occipital electrodes. Finally, WM updating was associated with relative increase in delta power over midfrontal electrodes, suggesting a functional role of delta oscillations in WM updating.

Aberrant occipital dynamics differentiate HIV-infected patients with and without cognitive impairment.

Combination antiretroviral therapies have revolutionized the treatment of HIV infection, and many patients now enjoy a lifespan equal to that of the general population. However, HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) remain a major health concern, with between 30% and 70% of all HIV-infected patients developing cognitive impairments during their life time. One important feature of HAND is visuo-perceptual deficits, but the systems-level neural dynamics underlying these impairments are poorly understood. In the current study, we use magnetoencephalography and advanced time series analyses to examine these neural dynamics during a visuospatial processing task in a group of HIV-infected patients without HAND (n = 25), patients with HAND (n = 18), and a group of demographically-matched uninfected controls (n = 24). All participants completed a thorough neuropsychological assessment, and underwent magnetoencephalography and structural MRI protocols. In agreement with previous studies, patients with HAND performed significantly worse than HIV-infected patients without HAND and controls on the cognitive task, in terms of increased reaction time and decreased accuracy. Our magnetoencephalography results demonstrated that both spontaneous and neural oscillatory activity within the occipital cortices were affected by HIV infection, and that these patterns predicted behavioural performance (i.e. accuracy) on the task. Specifically, spontaneous neural activity in the alpha (8-16 Hz) and gamma (52-70 Hz) bands during the prestimulus baseline period, as well as oscillatory theta responses (4-8 Hz) during task performance were aberrant in HIV-infected patients, with both spontaneous alpha and oscillatory theta activity significantly predicting accuracy on the task and neuropsychological performance outside of the magnetoencephalography scanner. Importantly, these rhythmic patterns of population-level neural activity also distinguished patients by HAND status, such that spontaneous alpha activity in patients with HAND was elevated relative to HIV-infected patients without HAND and controls. In contrast, HIV-infected patients with and without HAND had increased spontaneous gamma compared to controls. Finally, there was a stepwise decrease in oscillatory theta activity as a function of disease severity, such that the response diminished from controls to patients without HAND to patients with HAND. Interestingly, the strength of the relationship between this theta response and accuracy also dissociated patient groups in a similar manner (controls > HIV with no HAND > HIV with HAND), indicating a reduced coupling between neurophysiology and behaviour in HIV-infected patients. This study provides the first neuroimaging evidence of a dissociation between HIV-infected patients with and without HAND, and these findings shed new light on the neural bases of cognitive impairment in HIV infection.

Will they like me? Neural and behavioral responses to social-evaluative peer feedback in socially and non-socially anxious females

The current study examined neural and behavioral responses to social-evaluative feedback processing in social anxiety. Twenty-two non-socially and 17 socially anxious females (mean age = 19.57 years) participated in a Social Judgment Paradigm in which they received peer acceptance/rejection feedback that was either congruent or incongruent with their prior predictions. Results indicated that socially anxious participants believed they would receive less social acceptance feedback than non-socially anxious participants. EEG results demonstrated that unexpected social rejection feedback elicited a significant increase in theta (4–8 Hz) power relative to other feedback conditions. This theta response was only observed in non-socially anxious individuals. Together, results corroborate cognitive-behavioral studies demonstrating a negative expectancy bias in socially anxiety with respect to social evaluation. Furthermore, the present findings highlight a functional role for theta oscillatory dynamics in processing cues that convey social-evaluative threat, and this social threat-monitoring mechanism seems less sensitive in socially anxious females.

Oscillatory dynamics in the dorsal and ventral attention networks during the reorienting of attention.

The ability to reorient attention within the visual field is central to daily functioning, and numerous fMRI studies have shown that the dorsal and ventral attention networks (DAN, VAN) are critical to such processes. However, despite the instantaneous nature of attentional shifts, the dynamics of oscillatory activity serving attentional reorientation remain poorly characterized. In this study, we utilized magnetoencephalography (MEG) and a Posner task to probe the dynamics of attentional reorienting in 29 healthy adults. MEG data were transformed into the time-frequency domain and significant oscillatory responses were imaged using a beamformer. Voxel time series were then extracted from peak voxels in the functional beamformer images. These time series were used to quantify the dynamics of attentional reorienting, and to compute dynamic functional connectivity. Our results indicated strong increases in theta and decreases in alpha and beta activity across many nodes in the DAN and VAN. Interestingly, theta responses were generally stronger during trials that required attentional reorienting relative to those that did not, while alpha and beta oscillations were more dynamic, with many regions exhibiting significantly stronger responses during non-reorienting trials initially, and the opposite pattern during later processing. Finally, stronger functional connectivity was found following target presentation (575-700 ms) between bilateral superior parietal lobules during attentional reorienting. In sum, these data show that visual attention is served by multiple cortical regions within the DAN and VAN, and that attentional reorienting processes are often associated with spectrally-specific oscillations that have largely distinct spatiotemporal dynamics.

Spatiotemporal oscillatory dynamics of visual selective attention during a flanker task

The flanker task is a test of visual selective attention that has been widely used to probe error monitoring, response conflict, and related constructs. However, to date, few studies have focused on the selective attention component of this task and imaged the underlying oscillatory dynamics serving task performance. In this study, 21 healthy adults successfully completed an arrow-based version of the Eriksen flanker task during magnetoencephalography (MEG). All MEG data were pre-processed and transformed into the time-frequency domain. Significant oscillatory brain responses were imaged using a beamforming approach, and voxel time series were extracted from the peak responses to identify the temporal dynamics. Across both congruent and incongruent flanker conditions, our results indicated robust decreases in alpha (9–12Hz) activity in medial and lateral occipital regions, bilateral parietal cortices, and cerebellar areas during task performance. In parallel, increases in theta (3–7Hz) oscillatory activity were detected in dorsal and ventral frontal regions, and the anterior cingulate. As per conditional effects, stronger alpha responses (i.e., greater desynchronization) were observed in parietal, occipital, and cerebellar cortices during incongruent relative to congruent trials, whereas the opposite pattern emerged for theta responses (i.e., synchronization) in the anterior cingulate, left dorsolateral prefrontal, and ventral prefrontal cortices. Interestingly, the peak latency of theta responses in these latter brain regions was significantly correlated with reaction time, and may partially explain the amplitude difference observed between congruent and incongruent trials. Lastly, whole-brain exploratory analyses implicated the frontal eye fields, right temporoparietal junction, and premotor cortices. These findings suggest that regions of both the dorsal and ventral attention networks contribute to visual selective attention processes during incongruent trials, and that such differential processes are transient and fully completed shortly after the behavioral response in most trials.

Effects of bilateral vestibular deafferentation in rat on hippocampal theta response to somatosensory stimulation, acetylcholine release, and cholinergic neurons in the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus.

Vestibular dysfunction has been shown to cause spatial memory impairment. Neurophysiological studies indicate that bilateral vestibular loss (BVL), in particular, is associated with an impairment of the response of hippocampal place cells and theta rhythm. However, the specific neural pathways through which vestibular information reaches the hippocampus are yet to be fully elucidated. The aim of the present study was to further investigate the hypothesised 'theta-generating pathway' from the brainstem vestibular nucleus to the hippocampus. BVL, and in some cases, unilateral vestibular loss (UVL), induced by intratympanic sodium arsanilate injections in rats, were used to investigate the effects of vestibular loss on somatosensory-induced type 2 theta rhythm, acetylcholine (ACh) release in the hippocampus, and the number of cholinergic neurons in the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg), an important part of the theta-generating pathway. Under urethane anaesthesia, BVL was found to cause a significant increase in the maximum power of the type 2 theta (3-6Hz) frequency band compared to UVL and sham animals. Rats with BVL generally exhibited a lower basal level of ACh release than sham rats; however, this difference was not statistically significant. The PPTg of BVL rats exhibited significantly more choline-acetyltransferase (ChAT)-positive neurons than that of sham animals, as did the contralateral PPTg of UVL animals; however, the number of ChAT-positive neurons on the ipsilateral side of UVL animals was not significantly different from sham animals. The results of these studies indicate that parts of the theta-generating pathway undergo a significant reorganisation following vestibular loss, which suggests that this pathway is important for the interaction between the vestibular system and the hippocampus.

Neural mechanisms of mismatch negativity dysfunction in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is associated with cognitive deficits that reflect impaired cortical information processing. Mismatch negativity (MMN) indexes pre-attentive information processing dysfunction at the level of primary auditory cortex. This study investigates mechanisms underlying MMN impairments in schizophrenia using event-related potential (ERP), event-related spectral decomposition (ERSP) and resting state functional connectivity (rsfcMRI) approaches. For this study, MMN data to frequency, intensity and duration deviants were analyzed from 69 schizophrenia patients and 38 healthy controls. rsfcMRI was obtained from a subsample of 38 patients and 23 controls. As expected, schizophrenia patients showed highly significant, large effect-size (p=.0004, d=1.0) deficits in MMN generation across deviant types. In ERSP analyses, responses to deviants occurred primarily the theta (4–7 Hz) frequency range consistent with distributed corticocortical processing, while responses to standards occurred primarily in alpha (8–12 Hz) range consistent with known frequencies of thalamocortical activation. Independent deficits in schizophrenia were observed in both the theta response to deviants (p=.021) and the alpha-response to standards (p=.003). At the single trial level, differential patterns of response were observed for frequency vs. duration/intensity deviants, along with At the network level, MMN deficits engaged canonical somatomotor, ventral attention and default networks, with a differential pattern of engagement across deviant types (p<.0001). Findings indicate that deficits in thalamocortical, as well as cortico-cortical, connectivity contribute to auditory dysfunction in schizophrenia. In addition, differences in ERSP and rsfcMRI profiles across deviant types suggest potential differential engagement of underlying generator mechanisms.

Theta Activity in the Regio Inferior of the Temporal Hippocampus by Odor Stimulation in Anesthetized Pigs

We examined theta activity in the temporal hippocampus of ure-thane-chloralose-anesthetized pigs by stimulation with two chemical odors, beta-phenyl ethyl alcohol (PEA; rose-like odor) and n-amyl acetate (banana-like odor). Neural activity was recorded in the neural cell layer nearby fimbria of the temporal hippocampus in three of six animals. Odor stimulation with PEA at a low concentration (10-4 w/w; 100 ppm) significantly increased power of the low-frequency theta band (type-2; 4 - 6 Hz) for the middle 10 s (w (3, 6, 2.5%) >2.56). The PEA odor at a higher concentration (10-3 w/w; 1000 ppm), however, showed a tendency for gradual increase in the low-frequency theta but the response was insignificant compared with the control. On the other hand, odor stimulation with n-amyl acetate (10-4 w/w; 100 ppm) caused no apparent increase or a tendency for decrease in power of the low-frequency theta. Thus, the type-2 theta response in the temporal hippocampus to the PEA odor contrasted strikingly with that to the n-amylacetate in the ure-thane-chloralose-anesthetized pigs. The response of the type-2 theta rhythm in the temporal hippocampus may underlie the difference in emotional sensation and cognition of PEA from n-amyl acetate in the pig.

Why don't you like me? Midfrontal theta power in response to unexpected peer rejection feedback

Social connectedness theory posits that the brain processes social rejection as a threat to survival. Recent electrophysiological evidence suggests that midfrontal theta (4–8Hz) oscillations in the EEG provide a window on the processing of social rejection. Here we examined midfrontal theta dynamics (power and inter-trial phase synchrony) during the processing of social evaluative feedback. We employed the Social Judgment paradigm in which 56 undergraduate women (mean age=19.67 years) were asked to communicate their expectancies about being liked vs. disliked by unknown peers. Expectancies were followed by feedback indicating social acceptance vs. rejection. Results revealed a significant increase in EEG theta power to unexpected social rejection feedback. This EEG theta response could be source-localized to brain regions typically reported during activation of the saliency network (i.e., dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, insula, inferior frontal gyrus, frontal pole, and the supplementary motor area). Theta phase dynamics mimicked the behavior of the time-domain averaged feedback-related negativity (FRN) by showing stronger phase synchrony for feedback that was unexpected vs. expected. Theta phase, however, differed from the FRN by also displaying stronger phase synchrony in response to rejection vs. acceptance feedback. Together, this study highlights distinct roles for midfrontal theta power and phase synchrony in response to social evaluative feedback. Our findings contribute to the literature by showing that midfrontal theta oscillatory power is sensitive to social rejection but only when peer rejection is unexpected, and this theta response is governed by a widely distributed neural network implicated in saliency detection and conflict monitoring.

Age-related oscillatory theta modulation of multisensory integration in frontocentral regions.

This study used electroencephalogram measurements to investigate the effects of aging on oscillatory theta modulation during an audiovisual discrimination task. By a wavelet-based time-frequency analysis, age-related theta oscillation response differences were observed within a relatively restricted time range (0-500 ms) over frontal-central regions. Older adults showed stronger theta spectral power during visual and audiovisual stimuli in the left frontal regions; however, young adults showed stronger theta spectral power during auditory and audiovisual stimuli in the central regions. These findings suggest that multisensory oscillatory theta responses differ according to age, which further proves that the left frontal regions play an important role in audiovisual integration.

Theta phase coherence in affective picture processing reveals dysfunctional sensory integration in psychopathic offenders

Psychopathic offenders are described as emotionally cold, displaying deficits in affective responding. However, research demonstrates that many of the psychopathy-related deficits are moderated by attention, such that under conditions of high attentional and perceptual load psychopathic offenders display deficits in affective responses, but do not in conditions of low load. To date, most studies use measures of defensive reflex (i.e., startle) and conditioning manipulations to examine the impact of load on psychopathy-related processing, but have not examined more direct measures of attention processing. In a sample of adult male offenders, the present study examined time-frequency EEG phase coherence in response to a picture-viewing paradigm that manipulated picture familiarity to assess neural changes in processing based on perceptual demands. Results indicated psychopathy-related differences in the theta response, an index of readiness to perceive and integrate sensory information. These data provide further evidence that psychopathic offenders have disrupted integration of sensory information.

Binary sensitivity of theta activity for gain and loss when monitoring parametric prediction errors

Several theories have been proposed to account for the medial frontal activity that is elicited during the evaluation of outcomes. Respectively, these theories claim that the medial frontal response reflects (i) the absolute deviation between the value of an outcome and its expected value (i.e. an absolute prediction error); (ii) the deviation between actual and expected outcomes, with a specific sensitivity to outcomes that are worse than expected (i.e. a negative prediction error); (iii) a binary evaluation in terms of good and bad outcomes. In the current electroencephalography study, participants were presented with cues that induced specific predictions for the values of trial outcomes (a gain or loss of points). The actual outcomes occasionally deviated from the predicted values, producing prediction errors with parametrically varying size. Analysis of the medial frontal theta activity in response to the outcomes demonstrated a specific sensitivity to the occurrence of a loss of points when a gain had been predicted. However, the absolute deviation with respect to the predicted value did not modulate the theta response. This finding is consistent with the idea that outcome monitoring activity measured over medial frontal cortex is sensitive to the binary distinction between good and bad outcomes.

Improved PLL Tuning of Shunt Active Power Filter for Grid Connected Photo Voltaic Energy System

This research work brings out the unique predictive current control method for attaining an efficient grid connected Photo Voltaic (PV) system by Shunt Active Power Filter (SAPF) as grid connected converter. The major objective of the research work is to address the presence of Direct Current (DC) component, frequency improvement, quicker theta response, voltage magnitude estimation in the input signal of the Phase Locked Loop (PLL) which is challenging. This work focuses on tuning the PLL block (Kp, Ki, Kv and Ko) through Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) optimization algorithm. The proposed ABC based modified three-phase PLL method is based on adding a new loop inside the PLL structure. In power converters, ABC algorithm is used to select the optimal switching states. The voltage vector which minimizes a cost optimization function is selected. Simulation is carried out for both balanced and unbalanced system and the results validate that the performance of the proposed approach is better in terms of harmonic compensation as per the IEEE standards within ±5%, power factor improvement of the system, quicker theta tracking and suppression of frequency jump with the interconnection of PV system.

Changes in Theta and Beta Oscillations as Signatures of Novel Word Consolidation

The complementary learning systems account of word learning states that novel words, like other types of memories, undergo an offline consolidation process during which they are gradually integrated into the neocortical memory network. A fundamental change in the neural representation of a novel word should therefore occur in the hours after learning. The present EEG study tested this hypothesis by investigating whether novel words learned before a 24-hr consolidation period elicited more word-like oscillatory responses than novel words learned immediately before testing. In line with previous studies indicating that theta synchronization reflects lexical access, unfamiliar novel words elicited lower power in the theta band (4-8 Hz) than existing words. Recently learned words still showed a marginally lower theta increase than existing words, but theta responses to novel words that had been acquired 24 hr earlier were indistinguishable from responses to existing words. Consistent with evidence that beta desynchronization (16-21 Hz) is related to lexical-semantic processing, we found that both unfamiliar and recently learned novel words elicited less beta desynchronization than existing words. In contrast, no difference was found between novel words learned 24 hr earlier and existing words. These data therefore suggest that an offline consolidation period enables novel words to acquire lexically integrated, word-like neural representations.

Theta, beta and gamma rate modulations in the developing auditory system

In the brain, the temporal analysis of many important auditory features relies on the synchronized firing of neurons to the auditory input rhythm. These so-called neural oscillations play a crucial role in sensory and cognitive processing and deviances in oscillatory activity have shown to be associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. Given the importance of neural auditory oscillations in normal and impaired sensory and cognitive functioning, there has been growing interest in their developmental trajectory from early childhood on.In the present study, neural auditory processing was investigated in typically developing young children (n = 40) and adults (n = 27). In all participants, auditory evoked theta, beta and gamma responses were recorded. The results of this study show maturational differences between children and adults in neural auditory processing at cortical as well as at brainstem level. Neural background noise at cortical level was shown to be higher in children compared to adults. In addition, higher theta response amplitudes were measured in children compared to adults. For beta and gamma rate modulations, different processing asymmetry patterns were observed between both age groups. The mean response phase was also shown to differ significantly between children and adults for all rates.Results suggest that cortical auditory processing of beta develops from a general processing pattern into a more specialized asymmetric processing preference over age. Moreover, the results indicate an enhancement of bilateral representation of monaural sound input at brainstem with age. A dissimilar efficiency of auditory signal transmission from brainstem to cortex along the auditory pathway between children and adults is suggested. These developmental differences might be due to both functional experience-dependent as well as anatomical changes. The findings of the present study offer important information about maturational differences between children and adults for responses to theta, beta and gamma rates. The current study can have important implications for the understanding of developmental disorders which are known to be associated with deviances in neural auditory processing.