TY - JOUR
T1 - Human alpha rhythms during visual delayed choice reaction time tasks
T2 - A magnetoencephalography study
AU - Babiloni, Claudio
AU - Babiloni, Fabio
AU - Carducci, Filippo
AU - Cincotti, Febo
AU - Del Percio, Claudio
AU - Della Penna, Stefania
AU - Franciotti, Raffaella
AU - Pignotti, Sandro
AU - Pizzella, Vittorio
AU - Rossini, Paolo Maria
AU - Sabatini, Elisabetta
AU - Torquati, Kathya
AU - Romani, Gian Luca
PY - 2005/3
Y1 - 2005/3
N2 - Magnetoencephalography (MEG) includes fast and comfortable recording procedures very suitable for the neurophysiological study of cognitive functions in aged people. In this exploratory MEG study in normal young adults, we tested whether very simple short-term memory (STM) demands induce visible changes in amplitude and latency of surface α rhythms. Two delayed response tasks were used. In the STM condition, a simple cue stimulus (one bit) was memorized along a brief delay period (3.5-5.5 s). In the control (no short-term memory; NSTM) condition, the cue stimulus remained available along the delay period. To make extremely simple the tasks, the explicit demand was visuospatial but the retention could be also based on phonological and somatomotor coding. Compared to the control condition, the amplitude of the α 1 (6-8 Hz) ERD decreased in the left hemisphere, whereas the amplitude of the α 2 (8-10 Hz) and α 3 (10-12 Hz) event-related desynchronization (ERD) increased in right and left parietal areas, respectively. Furthermore, the latency of the α ERD peak was slightly but significantly (P <0.05) later in STM compared to control condition. In conclusion, whole-head MEG technology and very simple STM demands revealed significant changes of human neuromagnetic α rhythms in normal young adults.
AB - Magnetoencephalography (MEG) includes fast and comfortable recording procedures very suitable for the neurophysiological study of cognitive functions in aged people. In this exploratory MEG study in normal young adults, we tested whether very simple short-term memory (STM) demands induce visible changes in amplitude and latency of surface α rhythms. Two delayed response tasks were used. In the STM condition, a simple cue stimulus (one bit) was memorized along a brief delay period (3.5-5.5 s). In the control (no short-term memory; NSTM) condition, the cue stimulus remained available along the delay period. To make extremely simple the tasks, the explicit demand was visuospatial but the retention could be also based on phonological and somatomotor coding. Compared to the control condition, the amplitude of the α 1 (6-8 Hz) ERD decreased in the left hemisphere, whereas the amplitude of the α 2 (8-10 Hz) and α 3 (10-12 Hz) event-related desynchronization (ERD) increased in right and left parietal areas, respectively. Furthermore, the latency of the α ERD peak was slightly but significantly (P <0.05) later in STM compared to control condition. In conclusion, whole-head MEG technology and very simple STM demands revealed significant changes of human neuromagnetic α rhythms in normal young adults.
KW - α rhythm
KW - Cerebral cortex
KW - Delayed response tasks
KW - Event-related desynchronization
KW - Magnetoencephalography
KW - Short-term memory
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U2 - 10.1002/hbm.20079
DO - 10.1002/hbm.20079
M3 - Article
C2 - 15495216
AN - SCOPUS:20044380563
VL - 24
SP - 184
EP - 192
JO - Human Brain Mapping
JF - Human Brain Mapping
SN - 1065-9471
IS - 3
ER -