The relation of response-time variability to age and the influence of brain wave frequency

doi:10.1016/0013-4694(63)90146-9

Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology

Volume 15, Issue 6, December 1963, Pages 1029-1032

https://doi.org/10.1016/0013-4694(63)90146-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

An experiment was performed to investigate the role of brain wave frequency in the earlier reported findings of an increase in response-time variability with age.

Reaction-time variability and average period of the EEG—recorded in the interval of time between stimulus and response—were determined for 100 subjects ranging in age from 28–99 years.

The previously reported results were confirmed with the finding of a statistically significant positive correlation between reaction-time variability and age. This relationship could not be accounted for on the basis of differences in within-subject variability of brain wave period. By holding average brain wave period constant through the use of partial correlation, however, the positive coefficient relating reaction-time variability and age vanished. This finding was interpreted by reference to a hypothesis in which the brain wave cycle is considered to be the basic unit of time in the organization of simple behavior.

References (6)

W.W. Surwillo
The relation of simple response time to brain-wave frequency and the effects of age
Electroenceph. clin. Neurophysiol.
(1963)
H. Gavini
Les temps de réaction simple chez les hommes et les femmes de 55 à 85 ans
W. Goldfarb
An investigation of reaction time in older adults and its relationship to certain observed mental test patterns

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Cited by (24)

Do age-related differences in aperiodic neural activity explain differences in resting EEG alpha?
2023, Neurobiology of Aging
Citation Excerpt :
In support of previous findings (Babiloni et al., 2006; Grandy et al., 2013b; Klimesch, 1999; Scally et al., 2018; Sghirripa et al., 2021b), this study provides more evidence that older adults have slower peak alpha frequency compared to younger adults, even after accounting for differences in aperiodic activity. Early research in the 20th century showed that alpha frequency is related to speed of information processing, with higher alpha frequency associated with faster reaction times (Surwillo, 1971, 1964, 1963a, 1963b, 1961). More recently, individual peak alpha frequency was found to correlate with general intelligence (Grandy et al., 2013a).
Alpha-band oscillatory activity in human electroencephalography (EEG) becomes slower and lower in amplitude with advanced age. However, the influence of aperiodic activity on these measures has received little consideration. We investigated whether age-related differences in aperiodic activity explains differences in resting EEG peak alpha frequency and power. We assessed aperiodic activity in 85 younger and 92 older adults by fitting the 1/f-like background activity evident in EEG power spectra using the spectral parameterization (“specparam”) algorithm. Across the scalp, the aperiodic exponent and offset were smaller in older compared to younger participants, reflecting a flatter 1/f-like slope and a downward broadband shift in power spectra with age. After correcting for aperiodic activity, peak alpha frequency remained slower in older adults; however, peak alpha power no longer differed statistically between age groups. The large sample size utilized in this study, as well as the depth of analysis, provides further evidence that the aperiodic component of the resting EEG signal is altered with aging and should be considered when investigating neural oscillatory activity.
Frequency-specific transcranial neuromodulation of alpha power alters visuospatial attention performance
2022, Brain Research
Citation Excerpt :
Our results suggest that an individualization of the stimulation frequency might be necessary in heterogenous samples with a wide variation in IAF. As the IAF negatively correlates with age in adults (Surwillo 1963; Köpruner et al. 1984) and is particularly low in patients with dementia (Moretti 2004; Cantero et al. 2009; Gawel et al. 2009), traumatic brain injury (Tebano et al. 1988; Nuwer et al. 2005) or stroke (Giaquinto et al. 1994; Juhász et al. 2009), an individualization of the stimulation frequency might be especially important for the application of alpha tACS in a sample covering a wide age range. Furthermore, tuning tACS to the IAF instead of stimulating at a fixed frequency of 10 Hz, might reduce variability (Vossen et al. 2015; Stecher and Herrmann 2018; Kasten et al. 2019) and therefore lead to more robust tACS effects even in homogenous samples of young, healthy participants.
Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at 10 Hz has been shown to modulate spatial attention. However, the frequency-specificity and the oscillatory changes underlying this tACS effect are still largely unclear. Here, we applied high-definition tACS at individual alpha frequency (IAF), two control frequencies (IAF+/-2Hz) and sham to the left posterior parietal cortex and measured its effects on visuospatial attention performance and offline alpha power (using electroencephalography, EEG). We revealed a behavioural and electrophysiological stimulation effect relative to sham for IAF but not control frequency stimulation conditions: there was a leftward lateralization of alpha power for IAF tACS, which differed from sham for the first out of three minutes following tACS. At a high value of this EEG effect (moderation effect), we observed a leftward attention bias relative to sham. This effect was task-specific, i.e., it could be found in an endogenous attention but not in a detection task. Only in the IAF tACS condition, we also found a correlation between the magnitude of the alpha lateralization and the attentional bias effect. Our results support a functional role of alpha oscillations in visuospatial attention and the potential of tACS to modulate it. The frequency-specificity of the effects suggests that an individualization of the stimulation frequency is necessary in heterogeneous target groups with a large variation in IAF.
Time dilation in children and adults: The idea of a slower internal clock in young children tested with different click frequencies
2017, Behavioural Processes
Citation Excerpt :
Low-frequency bands (delta and theta <7 Hz) have been shown to be predominant in young children, while higher EEG frequencies (alpha, 8–13 Hz) predominate in mature brain rhythms (Eisermann et al., 2013; Michels et al., 2013). In addition, a significant correlation has been found between brain wave frequency and information processing speed (Survillo, 1961, 1963). Individuals with lower EEG frequencies exhibit slower and more variable response times than those with higher EEG frequencies.
This experiment examined the effect of a train of regular repetitive clicks of different frequencies (8 Hz, 20 Hz) on time judgment in a bisection task in children aged 5 and 8 years old and adults with two duration ranges (200/800 and 400/1600 ms). Participants’ scores on neurospychological tests assessing memory, information processing speed and different components of attention control were also measured. The results showed that a train of clicks produced a time dilation in the children as well as in the adults, with the result that the perceived duration was judged to last longer with than without clicks. However, the time dilation reached a maximum level at a lower click frequency value (8 Hz) in the children than in the adults (20 Hz). In addition, beyond this click value (8 Hz), a reversal effect was observed in the youngest children, who responded “long” less often, while the time dilation was extended in the adults. In addition, while the differences in the time dilation between the click and the no-click condition were not correlated with the individual cognitive capacities, those that occurred when the click frequency increased from 8 to 20 Hz were significantly correlated with individual capacities in terms of attention and working memory. The hypothesis of a slower internal clock in the younger children is discussed as are the attentional interference processes involved in the click effect on time judgment.
Development of time
2016, Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences
Citation Excerpt :
As stated by Rammsayer and Brandler [47], the higher the frequency of neural oscillators, the finer the temporal resolution of the internal clock. More than 40 years ago, Survillo [48] established a link between neural oscillations and information processing speed: the faster the alpha rhythm, the faster information processing is. As the neural circuits mature, electrical brain activity in children changes from birth through to adolescence, with an increase in alpha frequencies (8–12 Hz) and a decrease in theta frequencies (4–8 Hz) [49].
The young children inherit a brain that is intrinsically adapted to processing the flow of events together with their temporal characteristics, that is a veritable time machine. However, this does not mean that there is no change in timing abilities over childhood. Indeed, the precision of time judgment improves with age and young children's time judgments are highly sensitive to contextual effects. The actual issue is to succeed to dissociate the effects on time judgment that are due to the development of specific time mechanisms from those that result from the development of general cognitive capacities.
Chapter 10 Upper alpha ERD and absolute power: their meaning for memory performance
2006, Progress in Brain Research
Citation Excerpt :
In addition to alpha ERD, ERS and absolute power, IAF too is an important performance-related EEG parameter. Early experiments, carried out by Surwillo, have shown that IAF is negatively correlated with RT in a variety of different tasks (Surwillo, 1961, 1963a, b, 1964a, b, 1971). These findings demonstrate that high alpha frequency is associated with short (fast) RTs, whereas low alpha frequency is associated with long (slow) RTs (for similar findings cf. Klimesch et al., 1996).
A variety of studies have shown that EEG alpha activity in the upper frequency range is associated with different types of cognitive processes, memory performance, perceptual performance and intelligence, but in strikingly different ways. For semantic memory performance we have found that resting or reference power is positively associated with performance, whereas during actual processing of the task, small power — reflected by a large extent of event-related desynchronization (ERD) — is related to good performance. We also have shown that the induction of large alpha reference power by neurofeedback training or repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) at individual alpha frequency mimicked exactly the situation which is typical for good memory performance under normal situations: increased alpha reference power is associated with large ERD and good performance. Recent studies have demonstrated that this relationship holds true only for memory and not perceptual tasks that require the identification of simple visual stimuli under difficult conditions. In contrast to good memory performance, good perceptual performance is related to small pre-stimulus alpha power and a small ERD. We interpret this finding in terms of cortical inhibition vs. activation preceding task performance by assuming that large rhythmic alpha activity reflects inhibition. We assume that small reference alpha enhances perceptual performance because the cortex is activated and prepared to process the stimulus, whereas memory performance is enhanced if the cortex is deactivated before a task is performed because in typical memory tasks selective processing can start only after the to-be-remembered item or cue is presented. We also suggest that conflicting results about alpha ERD and the neural efficiency hypothesis (which assumes that highly intelligent exhibit a small ERD) can also be interpreted in terms of inhibition. Only if an intelligence test actually requires the activation of (semantic) memory, a large (because task specific) ERD can be observed. If other processing systems are required, the semantic memory system may even become suppressed, which is reflected by alpha event-related synchronization (ERS) or at least a largely decreased ERD.
EEG alpha and theta oscillations reflect cognitive and memory performance: A review and analysis
1999, Brain Research Reviews
Evidence is presented that EEG oscillations in the alpha and theta band reflect cognitive and memory performance in particular. Good performance is related to two types of EEG phenomena (i) a tonic increase in alpha but a decrease in theta power, and (ii) a large phasic (event-related) decrease in alpha but increase in theta, depending on the type of memory demands. Because alpha frequency shows large interindividual differences which are related to age and memory performance, this double dissociation between alpha vs. theta and tonic vs. phasic changes can be observed only if fixed frequency bands are abandoned. It is suggested to adjust the frequency windows of alpha and theta for each subject by using individual alpha frequency as an anchor point. Based on this procedure, a consistent interpretation of a variety of findings is made possible. As an example, in a similar way as brain volume does, upper alpha power increases (but theta power decreases) from early childhood to adulthood, whereas the opposite holds true for the late part of the lifespan. Alpha power is lowered and theta power enhanced in subjects with a variety of different neurological disorders. Furthermore, after sustained wakefulness and during the transition from waking to sleeping when the ability to respond to external stimuli ceases, upper alpha power decreases, whereas theta increases. Event-related changes indicate that the extent of upper alpha desynchronization is positively correlated with (semantic) long-term memory performance, whereas theta synchronization is positively correlated with the ability to encode new information. The reviewed findings are interpreted on the basis of brain oscillations. It is suggested that the encoding of new information is reflected by theta oscillations in hippocampo-cortical feedback loops, whereas search and retrieval processes in (semantic) long-term memory are reflected by upper alpha oscillations in thalamo-cortical feedback loops.

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Clinical and laboratory noteThe relation of response-time variability to age and the influence of brain wave frequency

Abstract

Electroenceph. clin. Neurophysiol.

Les temps de réaction simple chez les hommes et les femmes de 55 à 85 ans

An investigation of reaction time in older adults and its relationship to certain observed mental test patterns

Clinical and laboratory note
The relation of response-time variability to age and the influence of brain wave frequency