Asymmetry in prefrontal resting-state EEG spectral power underlies individual differences in phasic and sustained cognitive control

Ambrosini, Ettore; Vallesi, Antonino · 2015 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.09.035

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Summary

This study investigates whether hemispheric asymmetries in intrinsic, resting-state brain dynamics predict individual differences in domain-general cognitive control. Specifically, the authors address the open question of whether prefrontal lateralization reflects general executive functions—distinct from domain-specific processing (e.g., verbal vs. spatial)—and whether these intrinsic neural patterns underlie the variability in phasic (transient) and sustained (tonic) cognitive control abilities. The researchers recorded resting-state electroencephalography (rsEEG) from 56 university students and assessed their cognitive control using three distinct task-switching paradigms: color–shape, verbal, and spatial. These paradigms were selected to isolate switching costs (reflecting phasic control) and mixing costs (reflecting sustained control) across different cognitive domains. Behavioral data were analyzed using robust M-estimators to calculate paradigm-specific costs, which were then aggregated into general switching and mixing cost measures. EEG data underwent rigorous preprocessing, including artifact rejection and source imaging using a distributed source model and boundary element modeling. The authors computed spectral power in the 1–45 Hz range for cortical sources, focusing on the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) to assess lateralized brain dynamics. The results demonstrated that individual differences in prefrontal resting-state asymmetry significantly correlated with cognitive control performance. Participants exhibiting stronger left-lateralized intrinsic spectral power in the MFG showed superior phasic cognitive control, evidenced by lower switching costs. Conversely, participants with stronger right-lateralized intrinsic activity in the MFG demonstrated better sustained cognitive control, indicated by lower mixing costs. These relationships held true across all three task-switching paradigms, confirming that the neural predictors were domain-general rather than specific to verbal or visuospatial processing. The findings support the ROBBIA model of executive functions, which posits a process-based lateralization of the prefrontal cortex. The study concludes that the left prefrontal cortex preferentially supports transient, criterion-setting processes, while the right prefrontal cortex supports sustained, monitoring processes. Crucially, the authors establish that individual variability in these executive functions is rooted in intrinsic, resting-state hemispheric asymmetries. This suggests that baseline neural dynamics, rather than just task-evoked activity, determine an individual's capacity to regulate behavior in response to changing task demands.

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• executive function