EEG cross-frequency correlations as a marker of predisposition to affective disorders

Gennady G Knyazev; Alexander N Savostyanov; Andrey V Bocharov; Lyubomir I Aftanas

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02942

EEG cross-frequency correlations as a marker of predisposition to affective disorders

Heliyon. 2019 Nov 29;5(11):e02942. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02942. eCollection 2019 Nov.

Authors

Gennady G Knyazev¹, Alexander N Savostyanov^{1

2}, Andrey V Bocharov^{1

2}, Lyubomir I Aftanas^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Physiology and Basic Medicine, Timakova str., 4, Novosibirsk, 630117, Russia.
² Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova str., 2, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia.

Abstract

EEG cross-frequency amplitude-amplitude correlation (CF-AAC) has been considered as a potential marker of social anxiety and other affective disturbances. Functional significance of this phenomenon remains unclear, partly because the majority of studies used channel-level analysis, which precluded the spatial localization of observed effects. It is not also clear whether CF-AAC may serve as a marker of specific pathological conditions and specific states, or a more general predisposition to affective disturbances. We used source-level analysis of EEG data obtained in resting conditions in a nonclinical sample and patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and investigated associations of CF-AAC measures with a broad range of known risk factors for affective disorders, including age, gender, genotype, stress exposure, personality, and self-reported 'neurotic' symptomatology. A consistent pattern of associations showed that all investigated risk factors were associated with an enhancement of CF-AAC in cortical regions associated with emotional and self-referential processing. It could be concluded that CF-AAC is a promising candidate marker of a general predisposition to affective disorders at preclinical stages.

Keywords: 5-HTTLPR; Biological psychiatry; Cross-frequency correlations; Depression; EEG; Emotion; Individual differences; Major depressive disorder; Mental disorder; Neuroscience; Personality; Physiology; Source-level analysis; Stress.