Characterizing functional connectivity patterns during saliva swallows in different head positions

Iva Jestrović, James L. Coyle, Ervin Sejdić

The anatomical rationale and efficacy of the chin tuck in improving airway protection for some people with swallowing disorders have been well researched and established. However, there are still open questions regarding whether brain activity for swallowing control is altered while performing this chin-tuck maneuver. In this study, we collected EEG signals from 55 healthy adults while swallowing in the neutral and chin-tuck head positions. The time-frequency based synchrony measure was used to form brain networks. We investigated both the small-world properties of these brain networks and differences among the constructed brain networks for the two head positions during swallowing tasks. We showed that brain networks for swallowing in both head positions exhibit small-world properties. Furthermore, we showed that swallowing in the chin-tuck head position affects brain networks in the Alpha and Gamma frequency bands. According to these results, we can tell that the parameter of head position should be considered in future investigations which utilize EEG signals during swallowing activity.