The cognitive triad network - oscillation - behaviour links individual differences in EEG theta frequency with task performance and effective connectivity

Abstract

We reconcile two significant lines of Cognitive Neuroscience research: the relationship between the structural and functional architecture of the brain and behaviour on the one hand and the functional significance of oscillatory brain processes to behavioural performance on the other. Network neuroscience proposes that the three elements, behavioural performance, EEG oscillation frequency, and network connectivity should be tightly connected at the individual level. Young and old healthy adults were recruited as a proxy for performance variation. An auditory inhibitory control task was used to demonstrate that task performance correlates with the individual EEG frontal theta frequency. Older adults had a significantly slower theta frequency, and both theta frequency and task performance correlated with the strengths of two network connections that involve the main areas of inhibitory control and speech processing. The results suggest that both the recruited functional network and the oscillation frequency induced by the task are specific to the task, are inseparable, and mark individual differences that directly link structure and function to behaviour in health and disease.