More Like this

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

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2024.01.007  

   Denaro, Chandlyr M.; Reed, Catherine L.; Joshi, Jasmin; Petropoulos, Astrid; Thapar, Anjali; Hartley, Alan A. (April 2024, Neurobiology of Aging)

   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. 

   more » « less
2. Comparing Simultaneous Scalp EEG Recordings from the OpenBCI Cyton and Brain Products BrainAmp

   https://doi.org/10.3390/s26041153  

   D’Amico, Alessandro; de_Sa, Virginia R (February 2026, Sensors)

   Portable, affordable electroencephalography (EEG) amplifiers could enable neuroscience-scale data collection. The open-source OpenBCI Cyton shows promise in this regard, but remains undervalidated for cognitive neuroscience ERP experiments. We simultaneously recorded eight scalp electrodes with both Cyton and gold-standard Brain Products BrainAmp amplifiers across P3b-, ERN-, and N400-eliciting tasks. Five healthy volunteers completed visual oddball (P3b), flankers (ERN), and word association (N400) tasks. We quantified within-subject signal similarity using Pearson r2, mean absolute error (MAE), mean arctangent absolute percentage error (MAAPE), and within-component window mean and standard deviation. Cyton signals showed r2 = 97–100%, MAE ≈ 1 µV, and MAAPE ≈ 20% with BrainAmp signals at ERP sites of interest. No significant differences emerged in mean amplitudes within ERP component windows across amplifiers, though standard deviations differed significantly. These results demonstrate that the Cyton records highly similar but not identical scalp EEG as research-grade equipment. This first multi-subject, concurrent scalp EEG validation across multiple ERP components validates the Cyton for cognitive neuroscience and supports broader adoption of affordable open-source tools. 

   more » « less
3. Global Functional Connectivity at Rest Is Associated with Attention: An Arterial Spin Labeling Study

   https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13020228  

   Chen, Shichun; Zhang, Yakun; Zhang, Zongpai; Zhou, Tony D.; Duan, Wenna; Weinschenk, George; Luh, Wen-Ming; Anderson, Adam K.; Dai, Weiying (February 2023, Brain Sciences)

   Neural markers of attention, including those frequently linked to the event-related potential P3 (P300) or P3b component, vary widely within and across participants. Understanding the neural mechanisms of attention that contribute to the P3 is crucial for better understanding attention-related brain disorders. All ten participants were scanned twice with a resting-state PCASL perfusion MRI and an ERP with a visual oddball task to measure brain resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and P3 parameters (P3 amplitudes and P3 latencies). Global rsFC (average rsFC across the entire brain) was associated with both P3 amplitudes (r = 0.57, p = 0.011) and P3 onset latencies (r = −0.56, p = 0.012). The observed P3 parameters were correlated with predicted P3 amplitude from the global rsFC (amplitude: r = +0.48, p = 0.037; latency: r = +0.40, p = 0.088) but not correlated with the rsFC over the most significant individual edge. P3 onset latency was primarily related to long-range connections between the prefrontal and parietal/limbic regions, while P3 amplitudes were related to connections between prefrontal and parietal/occipital, between sensorimotor and subcortical, and between limbic/subcortical and parietal/occipital regions. These results demonstrated the power of resting-state PCASL and P3 correlation with brain global functional connectivity. 

   more » « less
4. Exploring the Utility of the Muse Headset for Capturing the N400: Dependability and Single-Trial Analysis

   https://doi.org/10.3390/s24247961  

   Hayes, Hannah Begue; Magne, Cyrille (December 2024, Sensors)

   Consumer-grade EEG devices, such as the InteraXon Muse 2 headband, present a promising opportunity to enhance the accessibility and inclusivity of neuroscience research. However, their effectiveness in capturing language-related ERP components, such as the N400, remains underexplored. This study thus aimed to investigate the feasibility of using the Muse 2 to measure the N400 effect in a semantic relatedness judgment task. Thirty-seven participants evaluated the semantic relatedness of word pairs while their EEG was recorded using the Muse 2. Single-trial ERPs were analyzed using robust Yuen t-tests and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to assess the N400 difference between semantically related and unrelated target words. ERP analyses indicated a significantly larger N400 effect in response to unrelated word pairs over the right frontal electrode. Additionally, dependability estimates suggested acceptable internal consistency for the N400 data. Overall, these findings illustrate the capability of the Muse 2 to reliably measure the N400 effect, reinforcing its potential as a valuable tool for language research. This study highlights the potential of affordable, wearable EEG technology to expand access to brain research by offering an affordable and portable way to study language and cognition in diverse populations and settings. 

   more » « less
5. Use of context in updating affective representations of words in older adults

   Ku, Li-Chuan; Lai, Vicky T (March 2025, Biological psychology)

   Older adults (OAs) often prioritize positive over negative information during word processing, termed as positivity bias. However, it is unclear how OAs update the affective representation of a word in contexts. The present study examined whether age-related positivity bias influences the update of the affective representation of a word in different emotional contexts. In Experiment 1 (web-based), younger and older participants read positive and negative target words in positive and negative contexts and rated the valence of the target words. Negative contexts biased the ratings more than positive ones, reflecting a negativity bias during offline valence evaluation in both age groups. In Experiment 2 (EEG), another group of participants read positive and negative target words in positive and negative contexts first, and then the same target words again, and made valence judgment on the target words. OAs showed a larger P2 (180–300 ms) difference before and after contexts for positive target words than younger adults (YAs). This suggests OAs’ early attention to positive features of words in contexts. YAs showed a larger late positive complex (LPC) difference for target words before and after negative contexts than before and after positive contexts, while older adults showed comparable LPC effects across all the conditions. This suggests that YAs use negative contexts to update the affective representation of a word, whereas OAs do so in both positive and negative contexts. Our findings supported a reduced negativity bias in OAs in using (emotional) contexts to update the affective neural representation of a word. 

   more » « less