Schedule of Events | Symposia

Cognitive reserve moderates the relationship between the aperiodic component of EEG signal and cognitive performance in older adults

Poster Session F - Tuesday, April 1, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Julia A. Sinople¹, Elena K. Festa², William C. Heindel², Laura E. Korthauer^1,3; ¹Brown University Health, ²Brown University, ³Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Introduction: Parameterizing EEG power spectra into aperiodic and periodic (oscillatory) components can reveal important information about the brain’s functional state. Features of the aperiodic component (which takes a 1/f-like distribution defined by its slope and offset) may be related to excitation/inhibition (E/I) balance, which may be a neural underpinning of cognitive reserve (CR) and cognitive performance during aging. Our goal was to examine associations between the aperiodic EEG component, cognitive performance, and CR in cognitively unimpaired older adults. Methods: We enrolled N=58 older adults (age 60+, 69% women), who completed 5 minutes of eyes-open 64-channel resting state EEG. Participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, including the Cognitive Reserve Index Questionnaire. Results: As expected, age was associated with lower aperiodic offset and exponent (p’s < .01). After controlling for age, lower aperiodic offset and exponent were associated with higher CR and a better neuropsychological composite score (p’s < .05). CR significantly moderated the associations between aperiodic activity and cognitive performance (p’s < .01): individuals with low CR had strong negative associations between the aperiodic offset and exponent and neuropsychological performance, while those with high CR showed no significant association. Discussion: Higher CR was associated with a lower aperiodic offset and exponent, which have been linked to a more excitatory E/I balance. However, aperiodic activity was more strongly linked to cognition in low CR individuals, suggesting that a less excitatory/more inhibitory E/I state could be a possible explanation for poorer cognitive performance in this group.

Topic Area: METHODS: Electrophysiology