title: Discriminating Valid from Spurious Indices of Phase-Amplitude Coupling.
abstract: Recently there has been a strong interest in cross-frequency coupling, the interaction between neuronal oscillations in different frequency bands. In particular, measures quantifying the coupling between the phase of slow oscillations and the amplitude of fast oscillations have been applied to a wide range of data recorded from animals and humans. Some of the measures applied to detect phase-amplitude coupling have been criticized for being sensitive to nonsinusoidal properties of the oscillations and thus spuriously indicate the presence of coupling. While such instances of spurious identification of coupling have been observed, in this commentary we give concrete examples illustrating cases when the identification of cross-frequency coupling can be trusted. These examples are based on control analyses and empirical observations rather than signal-processing tools. Finally, we provide concrete advice on how to determine when measures of phase-amplitude coupling can be considered trustworthy.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham , Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ole
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8193-8348
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford , OX1 3UD Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Eelke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Spaak
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow , Glasgow G12 8QB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Hyojin
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7527-8280
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000513:Alpha Rhythm; D000818:Animals; D004569:Electroencephalography; D065818:Gamma Rhythm; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D013826:Theta Rhythm; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology
keywords: EEG; MEG; alpha; gamma; oscillations; theta 