Mapping the 40-Hz auditory steady-state response using current density reconstructions

We mapped the 40-Hz aSSR from nine normal subjects using PET-independent low-resolution electroencephalographic tomography (LORETA) as well as PET-weighted LORETA and minimum norm (MinNorm) current density reconstructions. In grand mean data, PET-independent LORETA identified seven sites with peaks in current density in right temporal lobe, right brainstem/cerebellum, right parietal lobe, left cerebellum/temporal lobe, and right frontal lobe. PET-weighted LORETA found six of the same sites as the PET-independent LORETA: the right brainstem source was eliminated and two right-frontal sources were added. Both LORETA analyses revealed considerable phase dispersion across identified sources. In both LORETA analyses, the relative time course of activation measured from an arbitrary starting phase progressed from right temporal lobe to right mid-frontal lobe to right parietal-frontal to right inferior parietal and finally to left cerebellum and left temporal lobe. MinNorm analysis incorporating PET information identified sources in the same locations as specified in the PET data. These sources were synchronized, with their amplitudes peaking almost simultaneously. Both PET-independent and PET-weighted LORETA results suggest that the aSSR is: (1) the result of a reverberating network with two or more groups of sources that recurrently excite each other or (2) the result of sequential auditory processing through various levels of a hierarchical network. In contrast, the PET-weighted MinNorm results suggest that the 40-Hz response represents simultaneous activation over widely spaced areas of the brain, perhaps due to synchronization of gamma-band activity to a common neural clock.