ArticleThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2022
The Theta Paradox: 4-8 Hz EEG Oscillations Reflect Both Sleep Pressure and Cognitive Control.
Article in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Caffeinated Brain Part 3: The Effect of Caffeine on Electroencephalography (EEG) During Wakefulness-A Systematic and Mechanistic Review.Nutrients · 2026Pooled it
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Effects of Neurofeedback Training of Theta Activity on Working Memory and Episodic Memory in Healthy Population.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of morning versus evening high-intensity exercise on electroencephalographic and autonomic responses in middle-aged women.Physical activity and nutrition · 2026Article
- Around the Clock: Wearing a Flex-Printed trEEGrid Electrode Patch and Miniaturized Amplifier for Nearly 24 Hours Across Daytime and Overnight EEG Sessions.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Protecting episodic memory after sleep loss: Similar benefits of exercise and naps via distinct neural contributions.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Sleep-Like Slow Waves during Wakefulness Mediate Attention and Vigilance Difficulties in Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Article
- Effects of Sleep Duration on Electroencephalographic and Autonomic Nervous System Responses to High-Intensity Exercise.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Visual agnosia in the era of behavioral and neural investigations.Neuropsychologia · 2026Review
- Characterization of Children with Intellectual Disabilities and Relevance of MushroomNutrients · 2026Article
- Exploring the differences in neural oscillation mechanisms before and after sleep deprivation.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Operational drift: why validated fatigue induction is the missing link in nature restoration research.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Visual Neural Dynamics of Adolescents with Myopia During Face Inversion: An ERP and Oscillatory Study.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on inhibition-related oscillatory brain activity during an emotional antisaccade task.Dusunen adam : Bakirkoy Ruh ve Sinir Hastaliklari Hastanesi yayin organi · 2025Article
- Theta Activity at Sleep Onset in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- Brain power comparison between microgravity and head-down tilt bed rest: an electroencephalography approach.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Neural Correlates of Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Based on Electroencephalogram (EEG)-A Mechanistic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Wake EEG oscillation dynamics reflect both sleep pressure and brain maturation across childhood and adolescence.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Review
- SleepInvestigatoR: a flexible R function for analyzing scored sleep in rodents.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2025Article
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Abstract
Human electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillations characterize specific behavioral and vigilance states. The frequency of these oscillations is typically sufficient to distinguish a given state; however, theta oscillations (4-8 Hz) have instead been found in near-opposite conditions of drowsiness during sleep deprivation and alert cognitive control. While the latter has been extensively studied and is often referred to as "frontal midline theta," (fmTheta) the former has been investigated far less but is considered a marker for sleep pressure during wake. In this study we investigated to what extent theta oscillations differed during cognitive tasks and sleep deprivation. We measured high-density EEG in 18 young healthy adults (nine female) performing six tasks under three levels of sleep deprivation. We found both cognitive load and sleep deprivation increased theta power in medial prefrontal cortical areas; however, sleep deprivation caused additional increases in theta in many other, predominantly frontal, areas. The sources of sleep deprivation theta (sdTheta) were task dependent, with a visual-spatial task and short-term memory (STM) task showing the most widespread effects. Notably, theta was highest in supplementary motor areas during passive music listening, and highest in the inferior temporal cortex (responsible for object recognition) during a spatial game. Furthermore, while changes in task performance were correlated with increases in theta during sleep deprivation, this relationship was not specific to the EEG of the same task and did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. Altogether, these results suggest that both during sleep deprivation and cognition theta oscillations may preferentially occur in cortical areas not involved in ongoing behavior.
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