Estimation of the cortical functional connectivity by directed transfer function during mental fatigue

In this paper, the directed transfer function (DTF) method is used to characterize changes in the functional coupling of EEG rhythms in different brain cortical areas due to the mental fatigue caused by long-term cognitive tasks. There is a parietal-to-frontal functional coupling of the total (0.5–30 Hz) EEG frequency band in the right and middle brain cortical areas during the pre-task period, and an inversion of that direction, even a significant prevalence of the frontal-to-parietal direction, after the completion of the task. When mental fatigue levels increase, the parietal-to-frontal functional coupling of the alpha (8–12 Hz) frequency band is weakened, and the beta (13–30 Hz) frequency band changes from a balanced directionality of the functional cortical coupling to frontal-to-parietal functional coupling, whereas the frontal-to-center functional coupling of the total frequency band is enhanced in the right hemisphere, and the frontal-to-center functional coupling of the beta frequency band is heightened in the left hemisphere. Meanwhile, in the central cortical area, the middle-to-left functional coupling of the total, beta and alpha frequency bands increases significantly and the middle-to-right functional coupling of the total and beta frequency bands increases significantly after the task as compared to the pre-task period. These findings suggest that the functional coupling of the frontal, central and parietal brain cortical areas is strongly correlated with a change in mental fatigue levels in the wake–fatigue transition. The experimental results indicate that the DTF method can effectively explore the change of the direction and strength of the information flow underlying cortical-to-cortical functional coupling when mental fatigue is increased by long-term cognitive work. The DTF method may open a promising way to study mental fatigue.