ArticlePsychophysiology2020
Frontal theta and posterior alpha in resting EEG: A critical examination of convergent and discriminant validity.
Article in Psychophysiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Variability and effect sizes of intracranial current source density estimations during pain: Systematic review, experimental findings, and future perspectives.Human brain mapping · 2021Pooled it
- The effects of non-invasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on resting-state delta oscillation: a randomized, double-blinded, sham-control trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Evidence of bottom-up homeostatic modulation induced taVNS during emotional and Go/No-Go tasks.Experimental brain research · 2024Trial
- Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Facilitates Cortical Arousal and Alertness.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Trial
- Clinical effects of continuous theta burst stimulation for generalized anxiety disorder and a mechanism involving α oscillations: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPNTrial
- Hormonal contraceptives and EEG biomarkers for antidepressant treatment response in women.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Mapping EEG Metrics to Human Affective and Cognitive Models: An Interdisciplinary Scoping Review from a Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Electroencephalographic Biomarkers for Neuropsychiatric Diseases: The State of the Art.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Temporal stability and correlation of EEG markers and depression questionnaires scores in healthy people.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- A review of critical brain oscillations in depression and the efficacy of transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Review
- The novel frontal alpha asymmetry factor and its association with depression, anxiety, and personality traits.Psychophysiology · 2022Article
- A quantitative model reveals a frequency ordering of prediction and prediction-error signals in the human brain.Communications biology · 2022Article
- A systematic data-driven approach to analyze sensor-level EEG connectivity: Identifying robust phase-synchronized network components using surface Laplacian with spectral-spatial PCA.Psychophysiology · 2022Article
- Data-Driven EEG Theta and Alpha Components Are Associated with Subjective Experience during Resting State.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Article
- Time-frequency signatures evoked by single-pulse deep brain stimulation to the subcallosal cingulate.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2022Article
- Resting posterior alpha power and adolescent major depressive disorder.Journal of psychiatric research · 2021Article
- Predicting Depression Symptoms in Families at Risk for Depression: Interrelations of Posterior EEG Alpha and Religion/Spirituality.Journal of affective disorders · 2020Article
- Baseline Difference in Quantitative Electroencephalography Variables Between Responders and Non-Responders to Low-Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Depression.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Prior research has identified two resting EEG biomarkers with potential for predicting functional outcomes in depression: theta current density in frontal brain regions (especially rostral anterior cingulate cortex) and alpha power over posterior scalp regions. As little is known about the discriminant and convergent validity of these putative biomarkers, a thorough evaluation of these psychometric properties was conducted toward the goal of improving clinical utility of these markers. Resting 71-channel EEG recorded from 35 healthy adults at two sessions (1-week retest) were used to systematically compare different quantification techniques for theta and alpha sources at scalp (surface Laplacian or current source density [CSD]) and brain (distributed inverse; exact low resolution electromagnetic tomography [eLORETA]) level. Signal quality was evaluated with signal-to-noise ratio, participant-level spectra, and frequency PCA covariance decomposition. Convergent and discriminant validity were assessed within a multitrait-multimethod framework. Posterior alpha was reliably identified as two spectral components, each with unique spatial patterns and condition effects (eyes open/closed), high signal quality, and good convergent and discriminant validity. In contrast, frontal theta was characterized by one low-variance component, low signal quality, lack of a distinct spectral peak, and mixed validity. Correlations between candidate biomarkers suggest that posterior alpha components constitute reliable, convergent, and discriminant biometrics in healthy adults. Component-based identification of spectral activity (CSD/eLORETA-fPCA) was superior to fixed, a priori frequency bands. Improved quantification and conceptualization of frontal theta is necessary to determine clinical utility.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.