Different electrophysiological (EEG) correlates may provide specific important assessment of the period that anticipates an imperative stimulus. Previous study of our group showed that a local (i.e. parietal) anticipatory EEG marker (i.e. the event related de-synchronization of the alpha rhythms; ERD) is selectively affected when transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is delivered over crucial nodes belonging to well-known human networks involved in different cognitive domains. Here, we investigated whether such distinction is also present in the whole brain activity as seen through the pre-stimulus microstate’s topography, representing a global and reference-free measure of the neural activity. First, when subjects received a pseudo-stimulation (sham), we found two distinct pre-stimulus topographies during perceptual or memory task, respectively. Second, we reported that, during the visuo-spatial attention task, stimulation of left intraparietal sulcus (IPS), but not left angular gyrus (AG), significantly modifies the topography observed in the Sham condition. Conversely, stimulation of AG, but not IPS, changes the topography observed in the Sham condition during a semantic memory task. These findings provide the first causal evidence for the task and region specificity of the pre-stimulus EEG microstates, thus proposing this EEG index as of particular interest for the assessment of the period that precedes a predictable event.

Magnetic stimulation selectively affects pre-stimulus EEG microstates

Croce Pierpaolo
Primo
;
Zappasodi Filippo
Secondo
;
Spadone Sara
Penultimo
;
Capotosto Paolo
Ultimo
2018-01-01

Abstract

Different electrophysiological (EEG) correlates may provide specific important assessment of the period that anticipates an imperative stimulus. Previous study of our group showed that a local (i.e. parietal) anticipatory EEG marker (i.e. the event related de-synchronization of the alpha rhythms; ERD) is selectively affected when transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is delivered over crucial nodes belonging to well-known human networks involved in different cognitive domains. Here, we investigated whether such distinction is also present in the whole brain activity as seen through the pre-stimulus microstate’s topography, representing a global and reference-free measure of the neural activity. First, when subjects received a pseudo-stimulation (sham), we found two distinct pre-stimulus topographies during perceptual or memory task, respectively. Second, we reported that, during the visuo-spatial attention task, stimulation of left intraparietal sulcus (IPS), but not left angular gyrus (AG), significantly modifies the topography observed in the Sham condition. Conversely, stimulation of AG, but not IPS, changes the topography observed in the Sham condition during a semantic memory task. These findings provide the first causal evidence for the task and region specificity of the pre-stimulus EEG microstates, thus proposing this EEG index as of particular interest for the assessment of the period that precedes a predictable event.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
2018-Neuroimage.pdf

Solo gestori archivio

Tipologia: PDF editoriale
Dimensione 1.35 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
1.35 MB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11564/693009
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 5
  • Scopus 16
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 16
social impact