Cross-frequency coupling of brain oscillations: An impact of state anxiety

In recent studies, statistical relations among activities in different frequency EEG bands have been reported. Most of these studies investigate within-subject cross-frequency relations, such as amplitude–amplitude, phase–amplitude and phase–phase coupling between different frequencies. All these cross-frequency interactions are considered to be transient correlates of information processing. However, some authors suggested that a particular pattern of amplitude–amplitude relations among different frequencies may be associated with relatively stable states or even traits. Particularly delta–beta amplitude–amplitude correlation measured in the between-subject domain was shown to lawfully increase in some presumably anxiogenic conditions and in some pathological groups. The main purpose of this paper was to further explore the phenomenon of between-subject delta–beta correlation in terms of its spatial localization, relatedness to state anxiety, and similarity to within-subject amplitude-to-amplitude and phase-to-amplitude coupling. Independent component analysis was used to identify temporally correlated spatial patterns that most reliably show the phenomenon of between-subject delta–beta correlation. Results of this analysis show that in an anxiogenic situation, delta–beta correlation increases in a network of cortical areas which includes the orbitofrontal and the anterior cingulate cortices as its main node. This increase of correlation is accompanied by an increase of delta power and connectivity in the same cortical regions. Analysis of the within-subject delta–beta amplitude-to-amplitude and phase-to-amplitude coupling showed that in an anxiogenic situation, in subjects with higher scores on state anxiety they also tend to increase in the same set of cortical areas.

Research highlights
► State anxiety increases delta power and connectivity in the Orbitofrontal cortex.
► State anxiety increases between-subject delta–beta correlation.
► State anxiety increases within-subject delta–beta coupling.
► Orbitofrontal–Anterior Cingulate cortices are central nodes of delta–beta coupling.