Reconfiguring Emotion-Regulation patterns in Multi-Frequency EEG networks during healthy aging

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Aging
• Brain Network Analysis

Background:

• Limited understanding of aging's impact on whole-brain emotional regulation networks using electroencephalography (EEG).
• Need for multi-frequency graph-theoretical analyses to explore age-related differences in brain function.
• Previous studies lack detailed network perspectives on emotional regulation strategies in older adults.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate age-related differences in functional brain networks during emotional regulation.
• To analyze multi-frequency EEG data using graph theory to understand network dynamics.
• To correlate network properties with emotional regulation strategies in older and younger adults.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Leipzig Study for MindBody-Emotion Interactions (LEMON) dataset, including 52 older and 108 younger adults.
• Constructed functional brain networks across five frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, beta, gamma) using amplitude envelope correlation (AEC).
• Analyzed global and local graph metrics to assess network efficiency and nodal roles in relation to emotional regulation strategies.

Main Results:

• Older adults employed more suppression and less supportive coping strategies compared to younger adults.
• Increased global network efficiency in alpha and gamma bands was observed in older adults.
• Network analysis revealed hub over-integration and peripheral connection degradation, indicating compensatory reorganization, particularly within the Default Mode Network and Salience/Ventral Attention networks in theta and alpha bands.

Conclusions:

• Compensatory high-frequency network reorganization in aging may stabilize brain function but reduce emotional regulation flexibility.
• EEG-based multi-frequency network analysis effectively captures neural dynamics underlying emotional regulation.
• Findings suggest that while brain networks adapt to aging, this adaptation may impair flexible and adaptive emotional regulation.