This investigation assessed the neurovascular coupling response through integrated assessments of neuronal function electroencephalography (EEG), microvascular oxygenation concentrations functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and arterial responses transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD). The NVC response was assessed in 113 participants (86 females, aged 19–40 years) during visual (“Where’s Waldo?”) and motor (finger tapping) tasks. Block-averaged, time–frequency power was computed from the EEG data, while hemodynamic response functions were obtained from the fNIRS and TCD metrics. Granger causality assessed the predictiveness between EEG-fNIRS-TCD waveforms for each participant and was converted into a percentage of individuals displaying a significant value. Linear models were computed to determine the influence of sex, concussion history, young adulthood age, cardiorespiratory fitness, and mental health/learning disabilities on NVC parameters. During the initial 10 s of task onset, unidirectional predictiveness was weak to very strong for EEG-TCD (range: 47–83%) and fNIRS-TCD (44–92%) relationships; however, very weak to weak predictiveness was seen for the E0EG-fNIRS (0–29%) relationship for both tasks. Aside from known sex-, age-, and fitness-based influences on baseline/peak hemodynamic values (p 0.050). The findings demonstrated a unidirectional feedforward mechanism from the neuronal and microvasculature to the upstream arteries during task onset.
Burma et al. (Thu,) studied this question.