Abstract
Neural oscillations play an important role in the maintenance of brain function by regulating multi-scale neural activity. Characterizing the traveling properties of EEG is helpful for understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics of neural oscillations. However, traveling EEG based on non-invasive approach has little been investigated, and the relationship with brain intrinsic connectivity is not well known. In this study, traveling EEG of different frequency bands on the scalp in terms of the center of mass (EEG-CM) was examined. Then, two quantitative indexes describing the spatiotemporal features of EEG-CM were proposed, i.e., the traveling lateralization and velocity of EEG-CM. Further, based on simultaneous EEG-MRI approach, the relationship between traveling EEG-CM and the resting-state functional networks, as well as the microstructural connectivity of white matter was investigated. The results showed that there was similar spatial distribution of EEG-CM under different frequency bands, while the velocity of rhythmic EEG-CM increased in higher frequency bands. The lateralization of EEG-CM in low frequency bands (< 30 Hz) demonstrated negative relationship with the basal ganglia network (BGN). In addition, the velocity of the traveling EEG-CM was associated with the fractional anisotropy (FA) in corpus callosum and corona radiate. These results provided valid quantitative EEG index for understanding the spatiotemporal characteristics of the scalp EEG, and implied that the EEG dynamics were representations of functional and structural organization of cortical and subcortical structures.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2020ZYD013), the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 81701778, 81771822, 81861128001, and 31771149), Guangdong Science and Technology Program (M172018B030339001).
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Conceived and designed the work: YQ, CL. Acquired the data: YQ, NZ, YC, YT, ZY, YS. Analyzed the data: YQ, NZ, YT. Wrote the paper: YQ, CL, DY. All authors revised the work for important intellectual content. All of the authors have read and approved the manuscript. Thanks to the two radiologists for the neuroimaging evaluation.
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Qin, Y., Zhang, N., Chen, Y. et al. Probing the Functional and Structural Connectivity Underlying EEG Traveling Waves. Brain Topogr 35, 66–78 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-021-00862-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-021-00862-0