The generation and propagation of the human alpha rhythm

Halgren, Milan; Ulbert, István; Bastuji, Hélène; Fabó, Dániel; Erőss, Lóránd; Rey, Marc; Devinsky, Orrin; Doyle, Werner; Mak-McCully, Rachel A.; Halgren, Eric; Wittner, Lúcia; Chauvel, Patrick; Heit, Gary; Eskandar, Emad N.; Mandell, Arnold J.; Cash, Sydney S.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1913092116

Cited by 292 publications

(252 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…Based on EEG data from human participants, we demonstrated that the direction of alpha travelling waves (8-13Hz) is task-dependent, confirming suggestions from prior studies (Alamia & VanRullen, 2019;Halgren et al, 2019;Lozano-Soldevilla & VanRullen, 2019;Zhang et al, 2018), and verifying the predictions of our own modeling study on the generation and propagation of alpha oscillations (Alamia & VanRullen, 2019). Specifically, we characterized FW waves travelling from occipital to parietal regions elicited by visual stimulation, and BW waves in the reversed direction dominating during rest state.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…It should be emphasized that the current experimental design directly contrasted the conditions of visual processing and resting state within each trial. Previously, a number of studies had examined travelling waves under various single-task conditions, including visual stimulation (Alamia & VanRullen, 2019;Lozano-Soldevilla & VanRullen, 2019;Muller et al, 2014;Nauhaus et al, 2012), sleep (Muller et al, 2016) or quiet wakefulness (Alamia & VanRullen, 2019;Halgren et al, 2019). While these experiments confirmed the existence of travelling waves, they did not make it possible to track how the waves change from one condition to another.…”

Section: Contributions Of the Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike prior studies measuring a single travelling wave direction from phase gradients over certain brain regions (Halgren et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2018), we here derived two opposite components of the waves' direction from the pattern of brain activity within each time window, and quantified their strength. Previous studies have shown that travelling waves can propagate in different directions (Alexander et al, 2009;Massimini et al, 2004), and that the co-existence of two opposite waves may cause a loss of wave information (Alexander et al, 2013).…”

Section: Contributions Of the Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This reduction could be explained by the desynchronization caused by visual processing, since spontaneous oscillations often reflect synchronized states of the brain (Harris & Thiele, 2011). On the other hand, given the spatial extent of travelling waves across distributed cortical regions, their functional role may entail long-range information integration (Halgren et al, 2019;Sato et al, 2012). In particular, it is speculated that BW waves may participate in the organization of top-down or feedback information flow (Halgren et al, 2019;Van Kerkoerle et al, 2014).…”

Section: Spontaneous Bw Waves May Reveal Top-down Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, the directionality of travelling waves is believed to be functionally relevant (Bahramisharif et al, 2013;Fellinger et al, 2012;Patten et al, 2012). For example, Halgren and colleagues showed that, during wakefulness with open or closed eyes, alpha oscillations recorded with intra-cortical electrodes from epilepsy patients propagated from antero-superior cortex towards postero-inferior occipital poles (Halgren et al, 2019). However, in another intra-cortical study (Zhang et al, 2018), when subjects were instructed to complete a visual memory task, travelling waves in the theta-alpha band (2-15 Hz) propagate from posterior to anterior brain areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Turning the Stimulus On and Off Dynamically Changes the Direction of Alpha Traveling Waves

Pang

Alamia

VanRullen

2020

Preprint

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Travelling waves have been studied to characterize the complex spatiotemporal dynamics of the brain. Several studies have suggested that the propagation direction of travelling waves can be task-dependent. For example, a recent EEG study from our group found that forward waves (i.e. occipital to frontal, FW waves) were observed during visual processing, whereas backward waves (i.e. frontal to occipital, BW waves) mostly occurred in the absence of sensory input. These EEG recordings, however, were obtained from different experimental sessions and different groups of subjects. To further examine how the waves' direction changes between task conditions, 13 participants were tested on a target detection task while EEG signals were recorded simultaneously. We alternated visual stimulation (5 s display of visual luminance sequences) and resting state (5 s of black screen) within each single trial, allowing us to monitor the moment-to-moment progression of travelling waves. As expected, the waves' direction was closely linked with task conditions (visual processing vs. rest state). First, FW waves from occipital to frontal regions, absent during rest, emerged as a result of visual processing, while BW waves in the opposite direction dominated in the absence of visual inputs, and were reduced (but not eliminated) by external visual inputs. Second, during visual stimulation (but not rest), both waves coexisted on average, but were negatively correlated. That is, when the FW waves were stronger than expected based on alpha amplitude alone, the BW waves tended to be weaker, and vice-versa. In summary, we conclude that the functional role of travelling waves is closely related with their propagating direction, with stimulus-evoked FW waves supporting visual processing and spontaneous BW waves involved more in top-down control.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Contributions Of the Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Contributions Of the Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Spontaneous Bw Waves May Reveal Top-down Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Turning the Stimulus On and Off Dynamically Changes the Direction of Alpha Traveling Waves

Pang

Alamia

VanRullen

2020

Preprint

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Heritability of alpha and sensorimotor network changes in temporal lobe epilepsy

Yaakub

Tangwiriyasakul

Abela

et al. 2020

Ann Clin Transl Neurol

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Objective: Electroencephalography (EEG) features in the alpha band have been shown to differ between people with epilepsy and healthy controls. Here, in a group of patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE), we seek to confirm these EEG features, and using simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigate whether brain networks related to the alpha rhythm differ between patients and healthy controls. Additionally, we investigate whether alpha abnormalities are found as an inherited endophenotype in asymptomatic relatives. Methods: We acquired scalp EEG and simultaneous EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging in 24 unrelated patients with unilateral mTLE, 23 asymptomatic first-degree relatives of patients with mTLE, and 32 healthy controls. We compared peak alpha power and frequency from electroencephalographic data in patients and relatives to healthy controls. We identified brain networks associated with alpha oscillations and compared these networks in patients and relatives to healthy controls. Results: Patients had significantly reduced peak alpha frequency (PAF) across all parietal and occipital electrodes. Asymptomatic relatives also had significantly reduced PAF over 14 of 17 parietal and occipital electrodes. Both patients and asymptomatic relatives showed a combination of increased activation and a failure of deactivation in relation to alpha oscillations compared to healthy controls in the sensorimotor network. Interpretation: Genetic factors may contribute to the shift in PAF and alterations in brain networks related to alpha oscillations. These may not entirely be a consequence of anti-epileptic drugs, seizures or hippocampal sclerosis and deserve further investigation as mechanistic contributors to mTLE.

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Development of peak alpha frequency reflects a distinct trajectory of neural maturation in autistic children

Finn,

Han,

Naples

et al. 2023

Autism Research

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Electroencephalographic peak alpha frequency (PAF) is a marker of neural maturation that increases with age throughout childhood. Distinct maturation of PAF is observed in children with autism spectrum disorder such that PAF does not increase with age and is instead positively associated with cognitive ability. The current study clarifies and extends previous findings by characterizing the effects of age and cognitive ability on PAF between diagnostic groups in a sample of children and adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder. Resting EEG data and behavioral measures were collected from 45 autistic children and 34 neurotypical controls aged 8 to 18 years. Utilizing generalized additive models to account for nonlinear relations, we examined differences in the joint effect of age and nonverbal IQ by diagnosis as well as bivariate relations between age, nonverbal IQ, and PAF across diagnostic groups. Age was positively associated with PAF among neurotypical children but not among autistic children. In contrast, nonverbal IQ but not age was positively associated with PAF among autistic children. Models accounting for nonlinear relations revealed different developmental trajectories as a function of age and cognitive ability based on diagnostic status. Results align with prior evidence indicating that typical age‐related increases in PAF are absent in autistic children and that PAF instead increases with cognitive ability in these children. Findings suggest the potential of PAF to index distinct trajectories of neural maturation in autistic children.

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The generation and propagation of the human alpha rhythm

Cited by 292 publications

References 90 publications

Turning the Stimulus On and Off Dynamically Changes the Direction of Alpha Traveling Waves

Turning the Stimulus On and Off Dynamically Changes the Direction of Alpha Traveling Waves

Heritability of alpha and sensorimotor network changes in temporal lobe epilepsy

Development of peak alpha frequency reflects a distinct trajectory of neural maturation in autistic children

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