Abstract
Temporal stability of a given measurement within individual participants is a desirable property of psychophysiological measures. The present study aims to examine the reliability of high-frequency oscillatory activity in the human electroencephalogram (EEG) across 4 sessions. Convolution of the EEG time series with Morlet wavelets yielded time-frequency representations of the signal for each session. Stability of both topography and time course of gamma-band activity (GBA) was determined for two participants performing a feature-based selective attention task in four separate sessions, spaced at weekly intervals. We found high temporal stability of non-phase-locked GBA typically occurring in time ranges between 200 and 500 ms following presentation of a stimulus, both in terms of topography and time course. Early phase-locked GBA (80-120 ms) showed higher variability with respect to topography, but was consistent in terms of time course. We conclude that measures of high-frequency oscillatory activity as used in the cognitive neurosciences meet stability requirements necessary for meaningful interpretation of this parameter of brain function.
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Keil, A., Stolarova, M., Heim, S. et al. Temporal Stability of High-Frequency Brain Oscillations in the Human EEG. Brain Topogr 16, 101–110 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BRAT.0000006334.15919.2c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BRAT.0000006334.15919.2c