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. 2021 May 23;11(6):453.
doi: 10.3390/jpm11060453.

Individual Resonant Frequencies at Low-Gamma Range and Cognitive Processing Speed

Vykinta Parciauskaite  1 , Evaldas Pipinis  1 , Aleksandras Voicikas  1 , Jovana Bjekic  2 , Mindaugas Potapovas  1 , Vytautas Jurkuvenas  3 , Inga Griskova-Bulanova  1
Affiliations

Individual Resonant Frequencies at Low-Gamma Range and Cognitive Processing Speed

Vykinta Parciauskaite et al. J Pers Med. .

Abstract

Brain electrophysiological activity within the low gamma frequencies (30-80 Hz) has been proposed to reflect information encoding and transfer processes. The 40-Hz auditory steady-state response (40-Hz ASSR) is frequently discussed in relation to changed cognitive processing in neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the relationship between ASSRs and cognitive functioning still remains unclear. Most of the studies assessed the single frequency ASSR, while the individual resonance frequency in the gamma range (30-60 Hz), also called individual gamma frequency (IGF), has received limited attention thus far. Nevertheless, IGF potentially might better reflect individual network characteristics than standardly utilized 40-Hz ASSRs. Here, we focused on the processing speed across different types of cognitive tasks and explored its relationship with responses at 40 Hz and at IGFs in an attempt to uncover how IGFs relate to certain aspects of cognitive functioning. We show that gamma activity is related to the performance speed on complex cognitive task tapping planning and problem solving, both when responses at 40 Hz and at IGFs were evaluated. With the individualized approach, the observed associations were found to be somewhat stronger, and the association seemed to primarily reflect individual differences in higher-order cognitive processing. These findings have important implications for the interpretation of gamma activity in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Keywords: auditory steady-state response (ASSR); cognitive performance; envelope following response (EFR); gamma; individual resonant frequency.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A schematic representation of chirp stimulus used in the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Time-frequency plots of PLIs and ERSPs for envelope following response. The white solid line corresponds to the course of auditory stimulation; the white dashed line denotes +100 ms window from the stimulation line. The grand-averaged topographies for envelope-following response at 35, 40, 45, 50, and 55 Hz stimulation are presented alongside the time-frequency plots.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Individual phase-locking index (PLI) and event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) curves with individual gamma frequency distributions.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scatterplots of PLIs and ERSPs at IGFs against the Tower of London task response times.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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