The relationship between behavioral inhibition and resting electroencephalography: A neuroelectrophysiological study

Abstract

Investigating the neurophysiological indicators of behavioral inhibition is crucial; however, despite numerous studies on the relationship between behavioral inhibition and resting-state electroencephalography (rs-EEG), the findings have yielded inconsistent results. Furthermore, these investigations primarily focused on reactive inhibition while neglecting intentional inhibition. Therefore, this study aimed to reassess the correlation between reactive inhibition and rs-EEG metrics while also exploring the association between intentional inhibition and rs-EEG. Power spectrum analysis and microstate analysis were employed to extract rs-EEG, whereas the Free Two-Choice Oddball task was utilized for assessing both reactive and intentional inhibition among 95 participants. The results revealed no significant correlations between reactive inhibition and rs-EEG metrics. However, intentional inhibition exhibited a negative correlation with relative power in delta and beta bands but a positive correlation with relative power in alpha band. Moreover, intentional inhibition demonstrated a negative correlation with occurrence rate and contribution of microstate A but a positive correlation with duration of microstate D. Additionally, it displayed a negative relationship with the transition probability between microstate A and C but a positive relationship with the transition probability between microstate C and D. The regression analysis revealed that the occurrence rate of microstate A can negatively predict intentional inhibition. Overall, this study advances theoretical understanding as well as empirical research in this field by addressing gaps in rs-EEG evidence for intentional inhibition while providing potential neuropsychological indicators for its assessment.