Integrating Different Aspects of Resting Brain Activity: A Review of Electroencephalographic Signatures in Resting State Networks Derived from Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Electroencephalography (EEG) is an established measure in the field of brain resting state with a range of quantitative methods (qEEG) that yield unique information about neuronal activation and synchronization. Meanwhile, in the last decade, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have revealed the existence of more than a dozen resting state networks (RSNs), and combined qEEG and fMRI have allowed us to gain understanding about the relationship of qEEG and fMRI-RSNs. However, the overall picture is less clear because there is no a priori hypothesis about which EEG features correspond well to fMRI-RSNs. We reviewed the associations of several types of qEEG features to four RSNs considered as neurocognitive systems central for higher brain processes: the default mode network, dorsal and ventral frontoparietal networks, and the salience network. We could identify 12 papers correlating qEEG and RSNs in adult human subjects and employing a simultaneous design under a no-task resting state condition. A systematic overview investigates which qEEG features replicably relate to the chosen RSNs. This review article leads to the conclusion that spatially delimited theta and whole/local a may be the most promising measures, but the time domain methods add important additional information. (C) 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel