Interregional neural synchrony has similar dynamics during spontaneous and stimulus-driven states

Abstract

Assessing the correspondence between spontaneous and stimulus-driven neural activity can reveal intrinsic properties of the brain. Recent studies have demonstrated that many large-scale functional networks have a similar spatial structure during spontaneous and stimulus-driven states. However, it is unknown whether the temporal dynamics of network activity are also similar across these states. Here we demonstrate that, in the human brain, interhemispheric coupling of somatosensory regions is preferentially synchronized in the high beta frequency band (∼20-30 Hz) in response to somatosensory stimulation and interhemispheric coupling of auditory cortices is preferentially synchronized in the alpha frequency band (∼7-12Hz) in response to auditory stimulation. Critically, these stimulus-driven synchronization frequencies were also selective to these interregional interactions during spontaneous activity. This similarity between stimulus-driven and spontaneous states suggests that frequency-specific oscillatory dynamics are intrinsic to the interactions between the nodes of these brain networks.