Millisecond by Millisecond, Year by Year: Normative EEG Microstates and Developmental Stages

doi:10.1006/nimg.2002.1070

NeuroImage

Volume 16, Issue 1, May 2002, Pages 41-48

https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2002.1070 Get rights and content

Abstract

Most studies of continuous EEG data have used frequency transformation, which allows the quantification of brain states that vary over seconds. For the analysis of shorter, transient EEG events, it is possible to identify and quantify brain electric microstates as subsecond time epochs with stable field topography. These microstates may correspond to basic building blocks of human information processing. Microstate analysis yields a compact and comprehensive repertoire of short lasting classes of brain topographic maps, which may be considered to reflect global functional states. Each microstate class is described by topography, mean duration, frequency of occurrence and percentage analysis time occupied. This paper presents normative microstate data for resting EEG obtained from a database of 496 subjects between the age of 6 and 80 years. The extracted microstate variables showed a lawful, complex evolution with age. The pattern of changes with age is compatible with the existence of developmental stages as claimed by developmental psychologists. The results are discussed in the framework of state dependent information processing and suggest the existence of biologically predetermined top-down processes that bias brain electric activity to functional states appropriate for age-specific learning and behavior.

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Parkinson's disease (PD) is a disorder with abnormal changes in brain activity. The lack of objective indicators makes the assessment of PD progression difficult. Assessment of brain activity changes in PD may offer a potential solution.
Electroencephalogram (EEG) microstates reflect global dynamic changes in the brain. Therefore, we utilized microstates to assess changes in PD brain activity. However, the effect of epoch duration on the reliability of microstate analyses in PD is unclear. Thus, we first assessed the effect of data duration on the reliability of microstate topography and temporal features in PD and older healthy individuals. According to the reliability assessment, EEG epochs with high reliability were selected for microstate analysis in PD. Finally, we investigated the correlation between microstate features and clinical scales to determine whether these features could serve as objective indicators to evaluate PD progression.
Microstate analysis features that show high reliability for 3 min and above epoch durations. The topology of microstate D was significantly changed in PD compared to healthy controls, as well as the temporal features of microstates C and D. Additionally, the occurrence of C was negatively correlated with MoCA, and the duration of D was positively correlated with UPDRS.
High reliability of PD microstate features obtained by our approach.
EEG for PD microstate analysis should be at least 3 min. Microstate analysis is expected to provide new ideas and objective indicators for assessing Parkinson's disease progression in the clinical setting.
Assessment of rTMS treatment effects for methamphetamine use disorder based on EEG microstates
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Microstates have been proposed as topographical maps representing large-scale resting-state networks and have recently been suggested as markers for methamphetamine use disorder (MUD). However, it is unknown whether and how they change after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) intervention. This study included a comprehensive subject population to investigate the effect of rTMS on MUD microstates. 34 patients with MUD underwent a 4-week randomized, double-blind rTMS intervention (active=17, sham=17). Two resting-state EEG recordings and VAS evaluations were conducted before and after the intervention period. Additionally, 17 healthy individuals were included as baseline controls. The modified k-means clustering method was used to calculate four microstates (MS-A∼MS-D) of EEG, and the FC network was also analyzed. The differences in microstate indicators between groups and within groups were compared. The durations of MS-A and MS-B microstates in patients with MUD were significantly lower than that in HC but showed significant improvements after rTMS intervention. Changes in microstate indicators were found to be significantly correlated with changes in craving level. Furthermore, selective modulation of the resting-state network by rTMS was observed in the FC network. The findings indicate that changes in microstates in patients with MUD are associated with craving level improvement following rTMS, suggesting they may serve as valuable evaluation markers.
Microstate dynamics and spectral components as markers of persistent and remittent attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
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We leveraged microstate characteristics and power features to examine temporal and spectral deviations underlying persistent and remittent attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
50 young adults with childhood ADHD (28 persisters, 22 remitters) and 28 demographically similar healthy controls (HC) were compared on microstates features and frequency principal components (f-PCs) of eye-closed resting state. Support vector machine model with sequential forward selection (SVM-SFS) was utilized to discriminate three groups.
Four microstates and four comparable f-PCs were identified. Compared to HC, ADHD persisters showed prolonged duration in microstate C, elevated power of the delta component (D), and compromised amplitude of the two alpha components (A1 and A2). Remitters showed increased duration and coverage of microstate C, together with decreased activity of D, relatively intact amplitude of A1, and amplitude reduction in A2. The SVM-SFS algorithm achieved an accuracy of 93.59% in classifying persisters, remitters and controls. The most discriminative features selected were those exhibiting group differences.
We found widespread anomalies in ADHD persisters in brain dynamics and intrinsic EEG components. Meanwhile, the neural features in remitters exhibited multiple patterns.
This study underlines the use of microstate dynamics and spectral components as potential markers of persistent and remittent ADHD.
Atypical alpha band microstates produced during eyes-closed resting state EEG in autism
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We explored neural processing differences associated with aging across four cognitive functions. In addition to ERP analysis, we included task-related microstate analyses, which identified stable states of neural activity across the scalp over time, to explore whole-head neural activation differences. Younger and older adults (YA, OA) completed face perception (N170), word-pair judgment (N400), visual oddball (P3), and flanker (ERN) tasks. Age-related effects differed across tasks. Despite age-related delayed latencies, N170 ERP and microstate analyses indicated no age-related differences in amplitudes or microstates. However, age-related condition differences were found for P3 and N00 amplitudes and scalp topographies: smaller condition differences were found for in OAs as well as broader centroparietal scalp distributions. Age group comparisons for the ERN revealed similar focal frontocentral activation loci, but differential activation patterns. Our findings of differential age effects across tasks are most consistent with the STAC-r framework which proposes that age-related effects differ depending on the resources available and the kinds of processing and cognitive load required of various tasks.
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Resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) microstates are brief periods (60–120 ms) of quasi-stable scalp field potentials, indicating simultaneous activity of large-scale networks. Microstates are assumed to reflect basic neuronal information processing. A common finding in psychosis spectrum disorders is that microstates classes C and D are altered. Whereas evidence in adults with schizophrenia is substantial, little is known about effects in underage patients, particularly in those at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) and first-episode psychosis (FEP). The present study used 74-channel EEG to investigate microstate effects in a large sample of patients with CHR (n = 100) and FEP (n = 33), clinical controls (CC, n = 18), as well as age-matched healthy controls (HC, n = 68). Subjects span an age range from 9 to 35 years, thus, covering underage patients as well as the most vulnerable period for the emergence of psychosis and its prodrome. Four EEG microstates classes were analyzed (A-D). In class D, CHR and FEP patients showed a decrease compared to HC, and CHR patients also to CC. An increase in class C was found in CHR and FEP compared to HC but not to CC. Results were independent of age and no differences were found between the psychosis spectrum groups. The findings suggest an age-independent decrease of microstate class D to be specific to the psychosis spectrum, whereas the increase in class C seems to reflect unspecific psychopathology. Overall, present data strengthens the role of microstate D as potential biomarker for psychosis, as early as in adolescence and already in CHR status.

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Abstract

References (30)

Recommended standards for electroretinograms and visual evoked potentials. Report of an IFCN committee

Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol.

Growth of the electrical activity of the cortex

EEG Clin. Neurophysiol.

A field theory of consciousness

Consciousness Cogn.

EEG alpha map series: Brain micro-states by space-oriented adaptive segmentation Electroenceph

Clin. Neurophysiol.

Brain electrical microstates and momentary conscious mind states as building blocks of spontaneous thinking: I. Visual imagery and abstract thoughts

Int. J. Psychophysiol.

Adaptive segmentation of spontaneous EEG map series into spatially defined microstates

Int. J. Psychophysiol.

On the structure of EEG development

Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol.

Über das Elektroenzephalogramm des Menschen. 5. Mittlg

Arch. Psychiatr. Nervenkrankh.

Sleep homeostasis and models of sleep regulation

J. Biol. Rhythms

EEG-microstates in mild memory impairment and Alzheimer's disease: Possible association with disturbed information processing

J. Neural Transm.

The minimum duration of a perception

Neuropsychologia

The cue-dependent nature of state-dependent retrieval

Memory Cogn.

Development of the human corpus callosum during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study

Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry

Cited by (511)

Analysis of microstate features for Parkinson's disease based on reliability validation

Assessment of rTMS treatment effects for methamphetamine use disorder based on EEG microstates

Microstate dynamics and spectral components as markers of persistent and remittent attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Atypical alpha band microstates produced during eyes-closed resting state EEG in autism

Age-related similarities and differences in cognitive and neural processing revealed by task-related microstate analysis

EEG microstate D as psychosis-specific correlate in adolescents and young adults with clinical high risk for psychosis and first-episode psychosis

Regular ArticleMillisecond by Millisecond, Year by Year: Normative EEG Microstates and Developmental Stages

Abstract

Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol.

EEG Clin. Neurophysiol.

Consciousness Cogn.

Clin. Neurophysiol.

Int. J. Psychophysiol.

Int. J. Psychophysiol.

On the structure of EEG development

Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol.

Über das Elektroenzephalogramm des Menschen. 5. Mittlg

Arch. Psychiatr. Nervenkrankh.

Sleep homeostasis and models of sleep regulation

J. Biol. Rhythms

EEG-microstates in mild memory impairment and Alzheimer's disease: Possible association with disturbed information processing

J. Neural Transm.

The minimum duration of a perception

Neuropsychologia

The cue-dependent nature of state-dependent retrieval

Memory Cogn.

Development of the human corpus callosum during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study

Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry

Regular Article
Millisecond by Millisecond, Year by Year: Normative EEG Microstates and Developmental Stages