Normative Intercorrelations Between EEG Microstate Characteristics

Abstract

EEG microstates are brief, recurring periods of stable brain activity that reflect the activation of large-scale neural networks. The temporal characteristics of these microstates, including their average duration, number of occurrences, and percentage contribution have been shown to serve as biomarkers of mental and neurological disorders. However, little is known about how microstate characteristics of prototypical network types relate to each other. Normative intercorrelations among these parameters are necessary to help researchers better understand the functions and interactions of underlying networks, interpret and relate results, and generate new hypotheses. Here, we present a systematic analysis of intercorrelations between EEG microstate characteristics in a large sample representative of western working populations (n = 583). Notably, we find that microstate duration is a general characteristic that varies across microstate types. Further, microstate A and B show mutual reinforcement, indicating a relationship between auditory and visual sensory processing at rest. Microstate C appears to play a special role, as it is associated with longer durations of all other microstate types and increased global field power, suggesting a relationship of these parameters with the anterior default mode network. All findings could be confirmed using independent EEG recordings from a retest-session (n = 542).

Altering temporal dynamics of sleepiness and mood during sleep deprivation: evidence from resting-state EEG microstates

“…An explanation could be obtained through this study on the relationship between microstate features of prototypical network types. Microstates A and B reinforce each other, indicating the interaction between auditory and visual sensory processing at rest (Kleinert et al,2023).…”

“…The study on the relationship between microstate features has demonstrated a competitive relationship between the occurrence of microstate C and all other types of microstates, suggesting that class C may play a unique role in prototypical microstate types (Kleinert et al, 2023). Recent research on the relationship between the resting brain networks and microstate categories has revealed that microstate C is primarily associated with the default mode network (DMN) (Custo et al, 2017;Kleinert et al, 2023).The duration and occurrence of class C were signi cantly increased by the application of TMS to stimulate the DMN and speci c regions of the dorsal attention network, such the angular gyrus and intra-parietal sulcus (Croce et al, 2018). Sleep deprivation increases the within-network temporal variability of the DMN, according to the research on dynamic functional connectivity in the brain (Sun et al, 2022).…”

Open access EEG dataset of repeated measurements from a single subject for microstate analysis

“…One study focused on the population-level estimates of normative microstate temporal dynamics from a meta-analysis perspective and supported that microstates and their dynamics reflect functionally relevant properties of large-scale brain networks 17 . Another study evaluated the short- and long-term retest-reliability of EEG microstate characteristics in more than 500 subjects recorded 4 times each (twice within the same day and 60 days apart) and found good to excellent reliability of most microstate parameters 18 , 19 . These studies have examined the stability of microstates at the group level or the population level, or have explored the reliability of microstates over several measurements in the short or long term.…”