@article {Lerousseau834226, author = {Jacques Pesnot Lerousseau and Agn{\`e}s Tr{\'e}buchon and Benjamin Morillon and Daniele Sch{\"o}n}, title = {Persistent neural entrainment in the human cortex is frequency selective}, elocation-id = {834226}, year = {2019}, doi = {10.1101/834226}, publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}, abstract = {Rhythmic stimulation, either sensory or electrical, aiming at entraining oscillatory activity to reveal or optimize brain functions, relies on a critically untested hypothesis: it should produce a persistent effect, outlasting the stimulus duration. We tested this assumption by studying cortical neural oscillations during and after presentation of rhythmic auditory stimuli. Using intracranial and surface recordings in humans, we reveal consistent neural response properties throughout the cortex, with persistent entrainment being selective to high-gamma oscillations. Critically, during passive perception, neural oscillations do not outlast low-frequency acoustic dynamics. We further show that our data are well-captured by a model of damped harmonic oscillator and can be classified into three classes of neural dynamics, with distinct damping properties and eigenfrequencies. This model thus provides a mechanistic and quantitative explanation of the frequency selectivity of persistent neural entrainment in the human cortex.Highlights- Neural oscillatory activity does not outlast low-frequency (2.5 Hz) acoustic dynamics during passive perception.- High-gamma activity is entrained by periodic auditory stimuli, with persistent activity up to 10 cycles after stimulus offset.- This frequency following response (FFR) is present throughout the cortex, up to inferior frontal and motor regions.- The frequency selective nature of neural entrainment is well-captured by a model of damped harmonic oscillator.}, URL = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/11/17/834226}, eprint = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/11/17/834226.full.pdf}, journal = {bioRxiv} }