Dissociated cortical phase- and amplitude-coupling patterns in the human brain

Coupling of neuronal oscillations may reflect and facilitate the communication between neuronal populations. Two primary neuronal coupling modes have been described: phase-coupling and amplitude-coupling. Theoretically, both coupling modes are independent, but so far, their neuronal relationship remains unclear. Here, we combined MEG, source-reconstruction and simulations to systematically compare cortical phase-coupling and amplitude-coupling patterns in the human brain. Importantly, we took into account a critical bias of amplitude-coupling measures due to phase-coupling. We found differences between both coupling modes across a broad frequency range and most of the cortex. Furthermore, by combining empirical measurements and simulations we ruled out that these results were caused by methodological biases, but instead reflected genuine neuronal amplitude coupling. Overall, our results suggest that cortical phase- and amplitude-coupling patterns are non-redundant, which may reflect at least partly distinct neuronal mechanisms. Furthermore, our findings highlight and clarify the compound nature of amplitude coupling measures.\n\nHighlightsO_LISystematic comparison of cortical phase- and amplitude-coupling patterns\nC_LIO_LIDemonstration of genuine amplitude coupling independent of phase coupling bias\nC_LIO_LIAmplitude- and phase coupling patterns differ across many cortical regions and frequencies\nC_LI