D-55
Cognition, Behavior, and Memory
Movement-Onset Theta Modulation in Sparse Scalp EEG Tracks Spatial Prediction Error during Memory-Guided Virtual Navigation
Matías Presso1,4, Dylan Cos1, Marcelo Arlego2,5, Luca Sarramone1,2, Juan Martín Tenti7, María Paz Gazzola6, Jose A. Fernandez-Leon1,2,3
1. NeuroAI Lab, Fac. Cs. Exactas-INTIA, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNCPBA), Tandil, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2. CONICET-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
3. CIFICEN (CONICET–CICPBA-UNCPBA), CCT-Tandil, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
4. CICPBA-Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
5. UNLP-Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Dept. of Physics, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
6. NIECyT-Núcleo de Investigación en Educación en Ciencia y Tecnología, Fac. de Cs. Exactas, UNCPBA, Tandil, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
7. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas (INIFTA), Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), CONICET, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Presenting Author:
matiaspresso@gmail.com
Spatial navigation deficits emerge early in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), driving the search for non-invasive electrophysiological markers of cognitive mapping. While intracranial hippocampal recordings link low- and high-theta activity to movement initiation in spatial virtual navigation, whether non-invasive scalp electrophysiology (EEG) reflects related markers linked to spatial accuracy remains unclear. We recorded 8-channel scalp EEG from 20 healthy adults (20–65 years) who performed a virtual navigation task using remembered locations without visual cues. Participants showed varied prediction accuracy. Low-frequency activity was expressed predominantly over posterior regions. Critically, right-parietal P4 exhibited accuracy-dependent low-theta (2–5 Hz) dynamics: participants with low-error prediction were associated with increased power at movement onset relative to subsequent movements, whereas high-error participants showed a decline. Higher theta (6–9 Hz) showed weaker differentiation. Trial-level analyses (~400 trials) confirmed that movement-onset low-theta modulation predicts navigation accuracy. These findings suggest that movement-onset low-theta dynamics can be detected via sparse scalp EEG to track spatial accuracy, offering a candidate marker for studying age-related cognitive decline in early-stage AD. Corresponding author: Jose A. Fernandez-Leon (jafernandez@intia.exa.unicen.edu.ar) Funding: IBRO Rising Stars Award granted to JAFL (RS-4691970824).
