Analysis of phase-locking is informative for studying event-related EEG activity

A new method is presented for quantitative evaluation of single-sweep phase and amplitude electroencephalogram (EEG) characteristics that is a more informative approach in comparison with conventional signal averaging. In the averaged potential, phase-locking and amplitude effects of the EEG response cannot be separated. To overcome this problem, single-trial EEG sweeps are decomposed into separate presentations of their phase relationships and amplitude characteristics. The stability of the phase-coupling to stimulus is then evaluated independently by analyzing the single-sweep phase presentations. The method has the following advantages: information about stability of the phase-locking can be used to assess event-related oscillatory activity; the method permits evaluation of the timing of event-related phase-locking; and a global assessment and comparison of the phase-locking of ensembles of single sweeps elicited in different processing conditions is possible. The method was employed to study auditory alpha and theta responses in young and middle-aged adults. The results showed that whereas amplitudes of frequency responses tended to decrease, the phase-locking increased significantly with age. The synchronization with stimulus (phase-locking) was the only parameter reliably to differentiate the brain responses of the two age groups, as well as to reveal specific age-related changes in frontal evoked alpha activity. Thus, the present approach can be used to evaluate dynamic brain processes more precisely.