Cognitive exertion reshapes resting-state EEG markers across the adult lifespan

Authors

Ban, K., Weiss, B., Auer, T., Gajewski, P. D., Wascher, E., Vidnyanszky, Z.

Abstract

Resting-state electroencephalography (rsEEG) yields robust indices of ageing, notably individual alpha peak frequency (iAPF), alpha power, and the aperiodic exponent. Whether these markers reflect stable traits or shift with cognitive exertion remains unresolved, with direct consequences for lifespan and clinical research. We parameterised periodic and aperiodic rsEEG activity before and after cognitive tasks in a lifespan cohort (N = 390, aged 20-70), a five-year longitudinal follow-up (N = 100), and an independent older-adult dataset completing a different task (N = 71). Across datasets, cognitive exertion produced lifespan-wide iAPF slowing and increase in associated power. Notably, aperiodic shifts were age-dependent, with post-task steepening of the exponent in younger adults that progressively flattened with advancing age, resulting in a stronger effect of age on post-task exponents. Our results demonstrate that widely used spectral metrics exhibit acute state-dependency and post-task recordings offer a promising translational framework for indexing individual differences in healthy ageing and pathology.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 20 Aug 2026.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this preprint? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.