Right-lateralized intrinsic brain dynamics predict monitoring abilities

Intrinsic brain dynamics may play an important role in explaining interindividual variability in executive functions. In the present electroencephalography (EEG) study, we focused on the brain lateralization patterns predicting performance on three different monitoring tasks of temporal, verbal, and spatial nature. These tasks were administered to healthy young participants after their EEG was recorded during a resting state session. Behavioral indices of monitoring efficiency were computed for each task and a source-based spectral analysis was performed on participants' resting-state EEG activity. A lateralization index was then computed for each of 75 homologous cortical regions as the right-left difference score for the log-transformed power ratio between beta and alpha frequencies. Finally, skipped Pearson correlations between the lateralization index in each cortical region and behavioral performance of the three monitoring tasks were computed. An intersection among the three tasks showed that right-lateralization in different prefrontal regions, including the middle frontal gyrus, was positively correlated with monitoring abilities across the three tasks. In conclusion, right-lateralized brain mechanisms set the stage for the ability to monitor for targets in the environment, independently of the specific task characteristics. These mechanisms are grounded in hemispheric asymmetry dynamics already observable at rest.