Global scale-free brain activity as a potential neural signature of visual information processing in aging

Introduction: ) predicts cognitive performance in the older adults and could serve as a potential neural signature of cognitive aging. Nevertheless, few studies have examined how spectral slope estimates obtained from both eyes-closed (EC) and eyes-open (EO) resting states relate to cognitive performance in the aging population. Methods: was estimated from global power spectra after separating scale-free from oscillatory components in the power spectrum. Results: when transitioning from EC to EO, this change could not be observed in CDE. Finally, a strong, anticorrelated relationship between β in EO and performance on a rapid visual information processing task, was typically seen only in the CDE group. Discussion: These results potentially indicate an altered E/I ratio in the CDE cohort, while the inverse relationship with task performance suggests that this pattern could reflect a compensatory brain mechanism supporting cognition during aging.