RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Spectral slope and neural complexity as robust markers of task demand and brain state during sleep and wakefulness
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.09.10.507390
DO 10.1101/2022.09.10.507390
A1 Christopher Höhn
A1 Michael A. Hahn
A1 Janna D. Lendner
A1 Kerstin Hoedlmoser
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/10/10/2022.09.10.507390.abstract
AB Spectral slope and neural complexity are affected in many neurophysiological disorders such as ADHD, autism or epilepsy and are modulated by sleep, anesthesia, and aging. Yet, these two parameters are rarely studied in relation to each other. Here, we evaluated the effects of sleep stage and task demands on spectral slope and neural complexity within a narrow-(30 – 45Hz) and broadband (3 – 45Hz) frequency range in 28 healthy male adults (21.54 ± 1.90 years) over three consecutive recordings with a set of tasks (resting, attention and memory). We show that the slope steepens, and complexity decreases from wakefulness to N3. Importantly, slope and complexity are not only modulated by sleep but also differ between tasks, with flatter slopes and higher complexity being associated with more demanding tasks. While the slope and complexity are strongly correlated within 3 – 45Hz, we observe a functional dissociation in the 30 – 45Hz range. Critically, only the narrowband slope is steepest during REM sleep and associated with better task performance in a Go/Nogo task. Our results demonstrate that both markers are powerful indices of sleep depth, task demand and cognitive performance. However, depending on the frequency range, they provide distinct information about the underlying brain state.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.