Keran Yang

Program: Neurosciences

Current advisor: Adam Kepecs, PhD

Undergraduate university: Wheaton College-Massachusetts, 2019

Enrollment year: 2019

Research summary
Investigating Posterior Dominant Rhythm (PDR) in health volunteers following general anesthesia

The posterior dominant rhythm (PDR) is an electroencephalographic (EEG) marker of oscillations evoked during relaxed wakefulness. The PDR dominant frequency can remain stable over years after reaching a plateau in adolescence, suggesting it may be used as a “trait marker.” It covaries with arousal state, further providing potential use as a “state marker” in tracking acute pharmacological-induced cognitive dysfunction. Here, we investigated changes in the PDR induced during the recovery from isoflurane general anesthesia (1.3 MAC). Following the return of responsiveness from general anesthesia, the PDR frequency was reduced relative to baseline, and gradually recovered at a rate of 0.23 Hz/Hr over 3 hours. Additionally, the peak frequency of the PDR correlated with changes in reaction time on cognitive tasks in a nonlinear manner. Thus, the dominant frequency of the PDR correlates with the temporal recovery in cognitive task performance following anesthetic exposure.

Graduate publications