Resting EEG periodic and aperiodic components predict cognitive decline over 10 years

Finley, A. J., Angus, D. J., Knight, E. L., van Reekum, C. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1516-1101, Lachman, M. E., Davidson, R. J. and Schaefer, S. M. (2024) Resting EEG periodic and aperiodic components predict cognitive decline over 10 years. Journal of Neuroscience, 44 (13). e1332232024. ISSN 0270-6474 doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1332-23.2024

Abstract/Summary

Measures of intrinsic brain function at rest show promise as predictors of cognitive decline in humans, including EEG metrics such as individual alpha peak frequency (IAPF) and the aperiodic exponent, reflecting the strongest frequency of alpha oscillations and the relative balance of excitatory:inhibitory neural activity, respectively. Both IAPF and the aperiodic exponent decrease with age and have been associated with worse executive function and working memory. However, few studies have jointly examined their associations with cognitive function, and none have examined their association with longitudinal cognitive decline rather than cross-sectional impairment. In a preregistered secondary analysis of data from the longitudinal Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, we tested whether IAPF and aperiodic exponent measured at rest predict cognitive function (N = 235; age at EEG recording M = 55.10, SD = 10.71) over 10 years. The IAPF and the aperiodic exponent interacted to predict decline in overall cognitive ability, even after controlling for age, sex, education, and lag between data collection timepoints. Post-hoc tests showed that “mismatched” IAPF and aperiodic exponents (e.g., higher exponent with lower IAPF) predicted greater cognitive decline compared to “matching” IAPF and aperiodic exponents (e.g., higher exponent with higher IAPF; lower IAPF with lower aperiodic exponent). These effects were largely driven by measures of executive function. Our findings provide the first evidence that IAPF and the aperiodic exponent are joint predictors of cognitive decline from midlife into old age and thus may offer a useful clinical tool for predicting cognitive risk in aging.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/115567
Identification Number/DOI	10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1332-23.2024
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Ageing Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Neuroscience Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Psychopathology and Affective Neuroscience
Publisher	Society for Neuroscience
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