Abstract
Macroscopic neural dynamics comprise both aperiodic and periodic components. Recent advances in parameterizing neural power spectra offer practical tools for evaluating these features separately. Although neural signals vary dynamically and express non-stationarity in relation to ongoing behaviour and perception, current methods yield static spectral decompositions. Here, we introduce Spectral Parameterization Resolved in Time (SPRiNT) as a novel method for decomposing complex neural dynamics into periodic and aperiodic spectral elements in a time-resolved manner. First, we demonstrate, with naturalistic synthetic data, SPRiNT’s capacity to reliably recover time-varying spectral features and emphasize SPRiNT’s specific strengths over other time-frequency parameterization approaches based on wavelets. Second, we use SPRiNT to further illustrate how aperiodic spectral features fluctuate across time in resting-state electroencephalography (n = 178) and relate changes in aperiodic parameters to participants’ demographics and behaviour. Lastly, we use SPRiNT to demonstrate aperiodic dynamics related to movement behaviour in intracranial recordings in rodents. We foresee SPRiNT responding to growing neuroscientific interests in the parameterization of time-varying neural power spectra and advancing the quantitation of complex neural dynamics at the natural time scales of behaviour.
Significance Statement The new method and reported findings address a growing interest in neuroscience for research tools that can reliably decompose brain activity at the mesoscopic scale into interpretable components. We show that the new approach proposed herein is capable of tracking transient, dynamic spectral (aperiodic and periodic) components across time, both in synthetic simulated and experimental data. We anticipate that this novel technique, SPRiNT, will enable new neuroscience inquiries that reconcile multifaceted neural dynamics with complex behaviour.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
