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Reviews in the neurosciences
Feb 05, 2025;

Phase-amplitude coupling during auditory steady-state stimulation: a methodological review.

Aurimas Mockevičius, Inga Griškova-Bulanova
Author Information
  1. Aurimas Mockevičius: Institute of Bioscience, Life Sciences Center, 54694 Vilnius University , Saulėtekio ave. 7, LT-10257, Vilnius, Lithuania. ORCID
  2. Inga Griškova-Bulanova: Institute of Bioscience, Life Sciences Center, 54694 Vilnius University , Saulėtekio ave. 7, LT-10257, Vilnius, Lithuania. ORCID
PMID: 39900547 DOI: 10.1515/revneuro-2024-0165

Abstract

Auditory steady-state response (ASSR) is a robust method to probe gamma (>30 Hz) activity in a controlled manner. While typically the magnitude and the phase synchronization over stimulus repetitions of ASSR is assessed, other measures are being investigated. One of them is phase-amplitude coupling (PAC), which reflects the interactions between lower frequency phase and higher frequency amplitude. Considering that the number of studies assessing PAC during auditory steady-state stimulation has grown recently, in the present work, we aimed to perform a comprehensive overview of PAC methodological approaches in ASSR studies. We sought to evaluate the studies according to PAC analysis issues emphasized in empirical and theoretical PAC studies. Our work showed considerable variability in the methodology among the reviewed studies. Furthermore, the reviewed works address methodological issues and confounding factors of PAC relatively poorly and are characterized by insufficient descriptions of the applied approaches. Our review shows that systematic research of PAC in the context of ASSR is imperative in order to properly evaluate the presence of PAC during the auditory steady-state stimulation.

Keywords

ASSR cross-frequency coupling EEG MEG auditory steady-state response phase-amplitude coupling

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