Individual versus task differences in slow potential generators

Average slow potentials (SPs) can be computed from any voluntary task, minimally involving attention to anticipated stimuli. Their topography when recorded by large electrode arrays even during simple tasks is complex, multifocal, and its generators appear to be equally multifocal and highly variable across subjects. Various sources of noise of course contaminate such averages and must contribute to the topographic complexity. Here, we report a study in which the non-averaged SP band (0 to 1 Hz) was analyzed by independent components (ICA), from 256 channel recordings of 18 subjects, during four task conditions (resting, visual attention, CPT, and Stroop). We intended to verify whether the replicable SP generators (between two separate day sessions) modeled as current density reconstruction on structural MRI sets were individual-specific, and if putative task-related differences were systematic across subjects. Typically, 3 ICA components (out of 10) explained SPs in each task and subject, and their combined generators were highly variable across subjects: although some occipito-temporal and medial temporal areas contained generators in most subjects; the overall patterns were obviously variable, with no single area common to all 18 subjects. Linear regression modeling to compare combined generators (from all ICA components) between tasks and sessions showed significantly higher correlations between the four tasks than between sessions for each task. Moreover, it was clear that no common task-specific areas could be seen across subjects. Those results represent one more instance in which individual case analyses favor the hypothesis of individual-specific patterns of cortical activity, regardless of task conditions. We discuss this hypothesis with respect to results from the beta band, from individual-case fMRI studies, and its corroboration by functional neurosurgery and the neuropsychology of focal lesions.