Test‐retest reliability of EEG network characteristics in infants

Abstract

Introduction Functional Electroencephalography (EEG) networks in infants have been proposed as useful biomarkers for developmental brain disorders. However, the reliability of these networks and their characteristics has not been established. We evaluated the reliability of these networks and their characteristics in 10‐month‐old infants. Methods Data were obtained during two EEG sessions 1 week apart and was subsequently analyzed at delta (0.5–3 Hz), theta (3–6 Hz), alpha1 (6–9 Hz), alpha2 (9–12 Hz), beta (12–25 Hz), and low gamma (25–45 Hz) frequency bands. Connectivity matrices were created by calculating the phase lag index between all channel pairs at given frequency bands. To determine the reliability of these connectivity matrices, intra‐class correlations were calculated of global connectivity, local connectivity, and several graph characteristics. Results Comparing both sessions, global connectivity, as well as global graph characteristics (characteristic path length and average clustering coefficient) are highly reliable across multiple frequency bands; the alpha1 and theta band having the highest reliability in general. In contrast, local connectivity characteristics were less reliable across all frequency bands. Conclusions We conclude that global connectivity measures are highly reliable over sessions. Local connectivity measures show lower reliability over sessions. This research therefore underlines the possibility of these global network characteristics to be used both as biomarkers of neurodevelopmental disorders, but also as important factors explaining development of typical behavior.

EEG-derived brain graphs are reliable measures for exploring exercise-induced changes in brain networks

“…It can consequently be assumed that repeated analysis of graph measures do not underly strong absolute intra-individual changes 31 . This observation is in line with observations in elderly 32 and infant populations 33 , where repeated assessments of brain graphs within days did not obtain significant differences from test to test. Therefore, graph measures not only display adequate relative, but also absolute reliability and could be feasible in displaying intra-individual adaptations to exercise in repeated measures designs.…”

Stimulus-induced narrowband gamma oscillations are test-retest reliable in healthy elderly in human EEG

“…Test-retest reliability has been investigated in signals such as event-related synchronization and desynchronization (ERS/ERD) (Neuper et al, 2005), theta and alpha oscillations during a working memory task (McEvoy et al, 2000), functional EEG network characteristics (Velde et al, 2019) and evoked oscillations with visual stimuli (Keil et al, 2003; Fründ et al, 2007). Although the degree of reliability is difficult to compare across studies, all measures have shown some degree of test-retest reliability.…”

A systematic data-driven approach to analyze sensor-level EEG connectivity: Identifying robust phase-synchronized network components using surface Laplacian with spectral-spatial PCA

“…In the M/EEG FC literature, for example, many reports have calculated a grand mean across all FC edges (i.e., "global" reliability). Several EEG studies have shown adequate test-retest reliability for global FC in the alpha band across one-week to two-year intervals, whereas global theta reliability has been less consistent 1 (Dunkin, Leuchter, Newton, & Cook, 1994;Hardmeier et al, 2014;Kuntzelman & Miskovic, 2017;Marquetand et al, 2019;van der Velde, Haartsen, & Kemner, 2019). By comparison, reliability of individual FC links was in the poor to questionable range in one study with infants (van der Velde et al, 2019).…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, regional variability in FC has been ignored by analyses examining individual FC links and global FC. In fact, several studies have revealed that FC testretest reliability depends on region (Hardmeier et al, 2014;Holler et al, 2017;Roberts, Fillmore, & Decker, 2016;van der Velde et al, 2019), with the strongest FC links also demonstrating greater reliability (Garces et al, 2016). By comparison, multivariate techniques automatically organize FC links into reliable components/RSNs, thereby obviating some of the shortcomings of univariate 1 Compared to EEG, MEG studies have evidenced weaker test-retest reliability for global FC in both alpha and theta frequencies, particularly when using phase-based FC metrics (Candelaria-Cook, Schendel, Ojeda, Bustillo, & Stephen, 2020;Garces, Martin-Buro, & Maestu, 2016;Marquetand et al, 2019).…”