PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Elena Cesnaite
AU  - Paul Steinfath
AU  - Mina Jamshidi Idaji
AU  - Tilman Stephani
AU  - Deniz Kumral
AU  - Stefan Haufe
AU  - Christian Sander
AU  - Tilman Hensch
AU  - Ulrich Hegerl
AU  - Steffi Riedel-Heller
AU  - Susanne Röhr
AU  - Matthias L. Schroeter
AU  - A. Veronica Witte
AU  - Arno Villringer
AU  - Vadim V. Nikulin
TI  - Alterations in rhythmic and non-rhythmic resting-state EEG activity and their link to cognition in older age
AID  - 10.1101/2021.08.26.457768
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.08.26.457768
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/08/31/2021.08.26.457768.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/08/31/2021.08.26.457768.full
AB  - While many structural and biochemical changes in the brain have been previously associated with aging, the findings concerning electrophysiological signatures, reflecting functional properties of neuronal networks, remain rather controversial. To try resolve this issue, we took advantage of a large population study (N=1703) and comprehensively investigated the association of multiple EEG biomarkers (power of alpha and theta oscillations, individual alpha peak frequency (IAF), the slope of 1/f power spectral decay), aging, and aging and cognitive performance. Cognitive performance was captured with three factors representing processing speed, episodic memory, and interference resolution. Our results show that not only did IAF decline with age but it was also associated with interference resolution over multiple cortical areas. To a weaker extent, 1/f slope of the PSD showed age-related reductions, mostly in frontal brain regions. Finally, alpha power was negatively associated with the speed of processing in the right frontal lobe, despite the absence of age-related alterations. Our results thus demonstrate that multiple electrophysiological features, as well as their interplay, should be considered when investigating the association between age, neuronal activity, and cognitive performance.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.