Evoked brain rhythms are altered markedly in middle-aged subjects: single-sweep analysis.
In this study, a new method for analysis of single frequency responses was applied to compare auditory evoked potentials between young (18-30 years old) and middle-aged (50-55 years old) adults. The method was related to the evoked brain rhythmicities concept and permitted to quantify separately the magnitude, phase-locking, and enhancement against prestimulus activity of single sweeps. Thus, a constellation of three single-sweep parameters was used. No differences could be detected between the two age groups in the conventionally averaged potentials. However, significant age-related alterations were found at the level of single sweep analysis: 1) At the three midline locations (Fz, Cz, and Pz) older adults manifested theta phase-locking and enhancement that were significantly stronger than those in young adults; 2) In contrast, the alpha responses only over the frontal brain area were stronger in phase-locking and enhancement in middle-aged than in young adults, which implies that the alpha response system may be specifically related to frontal brain functioning during aging.
Yordanova
J
J
Institute of Physiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Kolev
V
V
Başar
E
E
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000513:Alpha Rhythm; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D013826:Theta Rhythm