Oscillation-Based Connectivity Architecture Is Dominated by an Intrinsic Spatial Organization, Not Cognitive State or Frequency

Functional connectivity of neural oscillations (oscillation-based FC) is thought to afford dynamic information exchange across task-relevant neural ensembles. Although oscillation-based FC is dassically defined relative to a prestimulus baseline, giving rise to rapid, context-dependent changes in individual connections, studies of distributed spatial patterns show that oscillation-based FC is omnipresent, occurring even in the absence of explicit cognitive demands. Thus, the issue of whether oscillation-based PC is primarily shaped by cognitive state or is intrinsic in nature remains open. Accordingly, we sought to reconcile these observations by interrogating the ECoG recordings of 18 presurgical human patients (8 females) for state dependence of oscillation-based FC in five canonical frequency bands across an array of six task states. FC analysis of phase and amplitude coupling revealed a highly similar, largely state-invariant (i.e., intrinsic) spatial component across cognitive states. This spatial organization was shared across all frequency bands. Crucially, however, each band also exhibited temporally independent FC dynamics capable of supporting frequency-specific information exchange. In conclusion, the spatial organization of oscillation-based FC is largely stable over cognitive states (i.e., primarily intrinsic in nature) and shared across frequency bands. Together, our findings converge with previous observations of spatially invariant patterns of FC derived from extremely slow and aperiodic fluctuations in fMRI signals. Our observations indicate that background FC should be accounted for in conceptual frameworks of oscillation-based FC targeting task-related changes.

Automated summary

The study analyzed ECoG recordings of 18 presurgical human patients and found that oscillation-based functional connectivity exhibits highly similar spatial organization across different cognitive states, primarily intrinsic in nature. Each frequency band also showed independent connectivity dynamics to support frequency-specific information exchange.