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Stephan Lechner

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YNIMG Journal 2024 Journal Article

Intrinsic neural timescales relate to the dynamics of infraslow neural waves

  • Yujia Ao
  • Yasir Catal
  • Stephan Lechner
  • Jingyu Hua
  • Georg Northoff

The human brain is a highly dynamic organ that operates across a variety of timescales, the intrinsic neural timescales (INT). In addition to the INT, the neural waves featured by its phase-related processes including their cycles with peak/trough and rise/fall play a key role in shaping the brain's neural activity. However, the relationship between the brain's ongoing wave dynamics and INT remains yet unclear. In this study, we utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) rest and task data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) to investigate the relationship of infraslow wave dynamics [as measured in terms of speed by changes in its peak frequency (PF)] with INT. Our findings reveal that: (i) the speed of phase dynamics (PF) is associated with distinct parts of the ongoing phase cycles, namely higher PF in peak/trough and lower PF in rise/fall; (ii) there exists a negative correlation between phase dynamics (PF) and INT such that slower PF relates to longer INT; (iii) exposure to a movie alters both PF and INT across the different phase cycles, yet their negative correlation remains intact. Collectively, our results demonstrate that INT relates to infraslow phase dynamics during both rest and task states.

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YNICL Journal 2024 Journal Article

Spectral peak analysis and intrinsic neural timescales as markers for the state of consciousness

  • Ezequiel Pablo Espinosa
  • Di Zang
  • Andrea Buccellato
  • Zengxin Qi
  • Xuehai Wu
  • Samira Abbasi
  • Yasir Catal
  • Stephan Lechner

Resting state EEG in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) is characterized by an increase of power in the delta frequency band and a concurrent decrease in the alpha range, equivalent to a weakening or disappearance of the alpha peak. Prolongation of Intrinsic Neural Timescales (INTs) is also associated with DOCs. Together, this raises the question whether the decreased alpha peak relates to the prolonged INTs and, importantly, how that can be used for diagnosing the state of consciousness in DOC individuals. Analyzing resting state EEG recordings from both healthy subjects and DOC patients, we measure INTs through autocorrelation window (ACW) and utilize peak analysis to quantify the weakening of the alpha peak. First, we replicate previous findings of prolonged ACW in DOC patients. We then identify significantly lower alpha peak measures in DOC compared to controls. Interestingly, spectral peaks shift from the alpha to the theta range in several DOC subjects while such change is absent in healthy controls. Next, our study reveals a close relationship between ACW and alpha peak in both healthy and DOC subjects, a correlation that holds for theta peaks in DOC. Further, the prolonged ACW correlates with the state of consciousness, as quantified by the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R), and mediates the relationship between theta peak and CRS-R. Finally, through split analyses and machine learning, we show that ACW and alpha peak measures conjointly distinguish healthy controls and DOC patients with high accuracy (95.5%). In conclusion, we demonstrate that the prolongation of ACW, together with spectral peak measures, holds promise to serve as additional EEG biomarkers for diagnosing the state of consciousness in DOC subjects.

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