Skip to main content
Log in

Transition dynamics of EEG-based network microstates during mental arithmetic and resting wakefulness reflects task-related modulations and developmental changes

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Cognitive Neurodynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We studied how maturation influences the organization of functional brain networks engaged during mental calculations and in resting state. Surface EEG measurements from 20 children (8–12 years) and 25 students (21–26 years) were analyzed. Interregional synchronization of brain activity was quantified by means of Phase Lag Index and for various frequency bands. Based on these pairwise estimates of functional connectivity, we formed graphs which were then characterized in terms of local structure [local efficiency (LE)] and overall integration (global efficiency). The overall data analytic scheme was applied twice, in a static and time-varying mode. Our results showed a characteristic trend: functional segregation dominates the network organization of younger brains. Moreover, in childhood, the overall functional network possesses more prominent small-world network characteristics than in early acorrect in xmldulthood in accordance with the Neural Efficiency Hypothesis. The above trends were intensified by the time-varying approach and identified for the whole set of tested frequency bands (from δ to low γ). By mapping the time-indexed connectivity patterns to multivariate timeseries of nodal LE measurements, we carried out an elaborate study of the functional segregation dynamics and demonstrated that the underlying network undergoes transitions between a restricted number of stable states, that can be thought of as “network-level microstates”. The rate of these transitions provided a robust marker of developmental and task-induced alterations, that was found to be insensitive to reference montage and independent component analysis denoising.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Modularity is one measure of the structure of networks or graphs. It was designed to measure the strength of division of a network into modules (also called groups, clusters or communities). Networks with high modularity have dense connections between the nodes within modules but sparse connections between nodes in different modules. Modularity is often used in optimization methods for detecting community structure in networks (Newman 2006).

  2. MDS was implemented via “cmdscale” function in Matlab.

References

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was partially funded by AUTH research committee (Grant 50141).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. I. Dimitriadis.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOC 3372 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dimitriadis, S.I., Laskaris, N.A. & Micheloyannis, S. Transition dynamics of EEG-based network microstates during mental arithmetic and resting wakefulness reflects task-related modulations and developmental changes. Cogn Neurodyn 9, 371–387 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11571-015-9330-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11571-015-9330-8

Keywords

Navigation