EEG microstates: Functional significance and short-term test-retest reliability

EEG microstates, reflecting discrete topographical organization of the EEG signal power, may have clinical relevance; however, their functional significance and test-retest reliability remain unclear. To investigate the functional significance of the canonical EEG microstate classes and their pairwi...

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Main Authors: Elena Antonova, Martin Holding, Ho Chak Suen, Alex Sumich, Reinoud Maex, Chrystopher Nehaniv
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-06-01
Series:Neuroimage: Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666956022000137
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author Elena Antonova
Martin Holding
Ho Chak Suen
Alex Sumich
Reinoud Maex
Chrystopher Nehaniv
author_facet Elena Antonova
Martin Holding
Ho Chak Suen
Alex Sumich
Reinoud Maex
Chrystopher Nehaniv
author_sort Elena Antonova
collection DOAJ
description EEG microstates, reflecting discrete topographical organization of the EEG signal power, may have clinical relevance; however, their functional significance and test-retest reliability remain unclear. To investigate the functional significance of the canonical EEG microstate classes and their pairwise transitions, and to establish their within-session test-retest reliability, we recorded 36-channel EEGs in 20 healthy volunteers during three eyes-closed conditions: mind-wandering, verbalization (silently repeating the word ‘square’ every 2 s), and visualization (visualizing a square every 2 s). Each condition lasted 3 min and the sequence of three conditions was repeated four times (two runs of two sequence repetitions). The participants' alertness and their sense of effort during the experiment were rated using visual-analogue scales. The EEG data were 2–20 Hz bandpass-filtered and analysed into the four canonical microstate classes: A, B, C, and D. EEG microstate classes C and D were persistently more dominant than classes A and B in all conditions. Of the first-order microstate parameters, average microstate duration was most reliable. The duration of class D microstate was longer during mind-wandering (106.8 ms) than verbalization (102.2 ms) or visualization (99.8 ms), with a concomitantly higher coverage (36.4% vs. 34.7% and 35.2%), but otherwise there was no clear association of the four microstate classes to particular mental states. The test-retest reliability was higher at the beginning of each run, together with higher average alpha power and subjective ratings of alertness. Only the transitions between classes C and D (from C to D in particular) were significantly higher than what would be expected from the respective microstates' occurrences. The transition probabilities, however, did not distinguish between conditions, and their test-retest reliability was overall lower than that of the first-order parameters such as duration and coverage. Further studies are needed to establish the functional significance of the canonical EEG microstate classes. This might be more fruitfully achieved by looking at their complex syntax beyond pairwise transitions. To ensure greater test-retest reliability of microstate parameters, study designs should allow for shorter experimental runs with regular breaks, particularly when using EEG microstates as clinical biomarkers.
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spelling doaj.art-6d84930c1db2443c88d120d646366e952022-12-22T02:26:06ZengElsevierNeuroimage: Reports2666-95602022-06-0122100089EEG microstates: Functional significance and short-term test-retest reliabilityElena Antonova0Martin Holding1Ho Chak Suen2Alex Sumich3Reinoud Maex4Chrystopher Nehaniv5Division of Psychology, Department of Life Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences & Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom; Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, United Kingdom; Royal Society Wolfson Biocomputation Research Laboratory, Centre for Computer Science and Informatics Research, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, AL10 9AB, United Kingdom; Corresponding author. Division of Psychology, Department of Life Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences & Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom.Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, United KingdomDepartment of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, United KingdomDepartment of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, 50 Shakespeare Street, Nottingham, NG1 4FQ, United KingdomRoyal Society Wolfson Biocomputation Research Laboratory, Centre for Computer Science and Informatics Research, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, AL10 9AB, United KingdomDepartments of Systems Design Engineering and Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue W, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada; Royal Society Wolfson Biocomputation Research Laboratory, Centre for Computer Science and Informatics Research, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield, AL10 9AB, United KingdomEEG microstates, reflecting discrete topographical organization of the EEG signal power, may have clinical relevance; however, their functional significance and test-retest reliability remain unclear. To investigate the functional significance of the canonical EEG microstate classes and their pairwise transitions, and to establish their within-session test-retest reliability, we recorded 36-channel EEGs in 20 healthy volunteers during three eyes-closed conditions: mind-wandering, verbalization (silently repeating the word ‘square’ every 2 s), and visualization (visualizing a square every 2 s). Each condition lasted 3 min and the sequence of three conditions was repeated four times (two runs of two sequence repetitions). The participants' alertness and their sense of effort during the experiment were rated using visual-analogue scales. The EEG data were 2–20 Hz bandpass-filtered and analysed into the four canonical microstate classes: A, B, C, and D. EEG microstate classes C and D were persistently more dominant than classes A and B in all conditions. Of the first-order microstate parameters, average microstate duration was most reliable. The duration of class D microstate was longer during mind-wandering (106.8 ms) than verbalization (102.2 ms) or visualization (99.8 ms), with a concomitantly higher coverage (36.4% vs. 34.7% and 35.2%), but otherwise there was no clear association of the four microstate classes to particular mental states. The test-retest reliability was higher at the beginning of each run, together with higher average alpha power and subjective ratings of alertness. Only the transitions between classes C and D (from C to D in particular) were significantly higher than what would be expected from the respective microstates' occurrences. The transition probabilities, however, did not distinguish between conditions, and their test-retest reliability was overall lower than that of the first-order parameters such as duration and coverage. Further studies are needed to establish the functional significance of the canonical EEG microstate classes. This might be more fruitfully achieved by looking at their complex syntax beyond pairwise transitions. To ensure greater test-retest reliability of microstate parameters, study designs should allow for shorter experimental runs with regular breaks, particularly when using EEG microstates as clinical biomarkers.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666956022000137EEG microstatesResting-state EEGResting-state networksNeuroimagingBiomarkersMind-wandering
spellingShingle Elena Antonova
Martin Holding
Ho Chak Suen
Alex Sumich
Reinoud Maex
Chrystopher Nehaniv
EEG microstates: Functional significance and short-term test-retest reliability
Neuroimage: Reports
EEG microstates
Resting-state EEG
Resting-state networks
Neuroimaging
Biomarkers
Mind-wandering
title EEG microstates: Functional significance and short-term test-retest reliability
title_full EEG microstates: Functional significance and short-term test-retest reliability
title_fullStr EEG microstates: Functional significance and short-term test-retest reliability
title_full_unstemmed EEG microstates: Functional significance and short-term test-retest reliability
title_short EEG microstates: Functional significance and short-term test-retest reliability
title_sort eeg microstates functional significance and short term test retest reliability
topic EEG microstates
Resting-state EEG
Resting-state networks
Neuroimaging
Biomarkers
Mind-wandering
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666956022000137
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