title: BOLD Frequency Power Indexes Working Memory Performance.
abstract: Electrophysiology studies routinely investigate the relationship between neural oscillations and task performance. However, the sluggish nature of the BOLD response means that few researchers have investigated the spectral properties of the BOLD signal in a similar manner. For the first time we have applied group ICA to fMRI data collected during a standard working memory task (delayed match-to-sample) and using a multivariate analysis, we investigate the relationship between working memory performance (accuracy and reaction time) and BOLD spectral power within functional networks. Our results indicate that BOLD spectral power within specific networks (visual, temporal-parietal, posterior default-mode network, salience network, basal ganglia) correlated with task accuracy. Multivariate analyses show that the relationship between task accuracy and BOLD spectral power is stronger than the relationship between BOLD spectral power and other variables (age, gender, head movement, and neuropsychological measures). A traditional General Linear Model (GLM) analysis found no significant group differences, or regions that covaried in signal intensity with task accuracy, suggesting that BOLD spectral power holds unique information that is lost in a standard GLM approach. We suggest that the combination of ICA and BOLD spectral power is a useful novel index of cognitive performance that may be more sensitive to brain-behavior relationships than traditional approaches.
authors.affiliation: Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin Dublin, Ireland ; Neural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Joshua Henk
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Balsters
authors.forename: Ian H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: Vince D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Calhoun
keywords: BOLD oscillations; ICA; aging; delayed match-to-sample; fMRI