TY - JOUR
T1 - Beyond frontal alpha
T2 - investigating hemispheric asymmetries over the EEG frequency spectrum as a function of sex and handedness
AU - Ocklenburg, Sebastian
AU - Friedrich, Patrick
AU - Schmitz, Judith
AU - Schlüter, Caroline
AU - Genc, Erhan
AU - Güntürkün, Onur
AU - Peterburs, Jutta
AU - Grimshaw, Gina
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) [grant number 01DR17005] to S.O. and a Royal Society of New Zealand Catalyst Grant to G.G.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by Bundesministerium f?r Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) [grant number 01DR17005] to S.O. and a Royal Society of New Zealand Catalyst Grant to G.G.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2019/9/3
Y1 - 2019/9/3
N2 - Frontal alpha EEG asymmetry, an indirect marker of asymmetries in relative frontal brain activity, are widely used in research on lateralization of emotional processing. While most authors focus on frontal electrode pairs (e.g., F3/F4 or F7/F8), several recent studies have indicated that EEG asymmetries can also be observed outside the frontal lobe and in frequency bands other than alpha. Because the focus of most EEG asymmetry research is on the correlations between asymmetry and other traits, much less is known about the distribution of patterns of asymmetry at the population level. To systematically assess these asymmetries in a representative sample, we determined EEG asymmetries across the head in the alpha, beta, delta and theta frequency bands in 235 healthy adults. We found significant asymmetries in all four frequency bands and across several brain areas, indicating that EEG asymmetries are not limited to frontal alpha. Asymmetries were not modulated by sex. They were modulated by direction of hand preference, with stronger right-handedness predicting greater right (relative to left) alpha power, or greater left (relative to right) activity. Taken together, the present results show that EEG asymmetries other than frontal alpha represent markers of asymmetric brain function that should be explored further.
AB - Frontal alpha EEG asymmetry, an indirect marker of asymmetries in relative frontal brain activity, are widely used in research on lateralization of emotional processing. While most authors focus on frontal electrode pairs (e.g., F3/F4 or F7/F8), several recent studies have indicated that EEG asymmetries can also be observed outside the frontal lobe and in frequency bands other than alpha. Because the focus of most EEG asymmetry research is on the correlations between asymmetry and other traits, much less is known about the distribution of patterns of asymmetry at the population level. To systematically assess these asymmetries in a representative sample, we determined EEG asymmetries across the head in the alpha, beta, delta and theta frequency bands in 235 healthy adults. We found significant asymmetries in all four frequency bands and across several brain areas, indicating that EEG asymmetries are not limited to frontal alpha. Asymmetries were not modulated by sex. They were modulated by direction of hand preference, with stronger right-handedness predicting greater right (relative to left) alpha power, or greater left (relative to right) activity. Taken together, the present results show that EEG asymmetries other than frontal alpha represent markers of asymmetric brain function that should be explored further.
KW - EEG
KW - frontal alpha asymmetry
KW - hemispheric asymmetries
KW - laterality
KW - oscillations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056081203&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85056081203&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1357650X.2018.1543314
DO - 10.1080/1357650X.2018.1543314
M3 - Article
C2 - 30388061
AN - SCOPUS:85056081203
SN - 1357-650X
VL - 24
SP - 505
EP - 524
JO - Laterality
JF - Laterality
IS - 5
ER -