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. 2019 Oct 7;14(10):e0223127.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223127. eCollection 2019.

40-Hz auditory steady-state responses and the complex information processing: An exploratory study in healthy young males

Vykinta Parciauskaite  1 , Aleksandras Voicikas  1 , Vytautas Jurkuvenas  2 , Povilas Tarailis  1 , Mindaugas Kraulaidis  1 , Evaldas Pipinis  1 , Inga Griskova-Bulanova  1
Affiliations

40-Hz auditory steady-state responses and the complex information processing: An exploratory study in healthy young males

Vykinta Parciauskaite et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in the gamma (30-80 Hz) range is related to a variety of sensory and cognitive processes which are frequently impaired in schizophrenia. Auditory steady-state response at 40-Hz (40-Hz ASSR) is utilized as an index of gamma activity and is proposed as a biomarker of schizophrenia. Nevertheless, the link between ASSRs and cognitive functions is not clear. This study explores a possible relationship between the performance on cognitive tasks and the 40-Hz ASSRs in a controlled uniform sample of young healthy males, as age and sex may have complex influence on ASSRs. Twenty-eight young healthy male volunteers participated (mean age ± SD 25.8±3.3) in the study. The 40-Hz click trains (500 ms) were presented 150 times with an inter-stimulus interval set at 700-1000 ms. The phase-locking index (PLI) and event-related power perturbation (ERSP) of the ASSR were calculated in the 200-500 ms latency range, which corresponds to the steady part of the response. The Psychology Experiment Building Language (PEBL) task battery was used to assess five cognitive subdomains: the Choice response time task, the Stroop test, the Tower of London test, the Lexical decision task and the Semantic categorisation task. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated to access the relationships; no multiple-test correction was applied as the tests were explorative in nature. A significant positive correlation was observed for the late-latency gamma and the mean number of steps in the Tower of London task reflecting planning and problem-solving abilities. These findings support the concept that 40-Hz ASSR might highlight top-down mechanisms which are related to cognitive functioning. Therefore, 40-Hz ASSRs can be used to explore the relationship between cognitive functioning and neurophysiological indices of brain activity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. The topographies of PLI (upper panel) and ERSP (lower panel) within 0–500 ms time window in 100 ms bins in response to 40-Hz stimulation.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Time course of PLIs (upper panel) and ERSPs (lower panel) for the left, central and right regions in response to 40-Hz stimulation.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Scatterplots of PLIs and ERSPs against mean moves in the Tower of London Task.
Plots are presented separately for the left, central and right regions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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