Functional Connectivity of Cortical Fields at Rest as a Mechanism of Brain Preparation to Purposeful Activity

Abstract

The relationship between individual characteristics of spontaneous electrical activity of the brain and concentration of attention was studied using the analysis of accuracy in the “Bourdon test” for voluntary attention. The accuracy of test performance was found to correlate with the spectral power and index of the α and θ bands in the left mid-temporal cortical area, as well as an increase in signal connectivity between the mid-temporal and other EEG sites. An increase in the spectral power of the θ band and a decrease in α index led to an increase in the number of errors in the test. On the one hand, the findings possibly indicate that the left mid-temporal region plays a special role organizing the coordinated systemic spatiotemporal interaction of cortical fields, which is necessary for efficient test performance. On the other hand, the findings raise the question as to whether a reorganization of background brain activity is of importance as a precondition of local processes to facilitate further cognitive performance.