Cause or consequence? Alpha oscillations in visuospatial attention

Peylo, Charline; Hilla, Yannik; Sauseng, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.tins.2021.05.004

Cited by 106 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…In this context, weaker prestimulus alpha oscillations are indicative of a more highly excitable cortical state (Klimesch et al, 2007;Romei et al, 2008), which supports the negative relationship that has been reported between alpha amplitude and detection performance (Ergenoglu et al, 2004;Hanslmayr et al, 2005;van Dijk et al, 2008). Consistent with this view, prestimulus alpha oscillations are sensitive to attention, decreasing over cortical sites when attending to task-relevant information (Gould et al, 2011;Peylo et al, 2021;Sauseng et al, 2005;Thut et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Alpha oscillations and stimulus-evoked activity dissociate metacognitive reports of attention, visibility and confidence in a rapid visual detection task

Davidson

Macdonald

Yeung

2021

Preprint

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Variability in the detection and discrimination of weak visual stimuli has been linked to prestimulus neural activity. In particular, the power of oscillatory activity in the alpha-band (8-12 Hz) has been shown to impact upon the objective likelihood of stimulus detection, as well as measures of subjective visibility, attention, and decision confidence. We aimed to clarify how prestimulus alpha influences performance and phenomenology, by recording simultaneous subjective measures of attention and confidence (Experiment 1), or attention and visibility (Experiment 2) on a trial-by-trial basis in a visual detection task. Across both experiments, prestimulus alpha power was negatively and linearly correlated with the intensity of subjective attention. In contrast to this linear relationship, we observed a quadratic relationship between the strength of prestimulus alpha power and subjective ratings of confidence and visibility. We find that this same quadratic relationship links prestimulus alpha power to the strength of stimulus evoked responses. Visibility and confidence judgements corresponded to the strength of evoked responses, but confidence, uniquely, incorporated information about attentional state. As such, our findings reveal distinct psychological and neural correlates of metacognitive judgements of attentional state, stimulus visibility, and decision confidence.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Alpha oscillations and stimulus-evoked activity dissociate metacognitive reports of attention, visibility and confidence in a rapid visual detection task

Davidson

Macdonald

Yeung

2021

Preprint

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“…α Power in EEG studies has been traditionally viewed as indicative of an idling state of cortex and elevated α power predictive of errors in processing because of lack of engagement in a task; however, more recently this notion has been shifted toward of a view that α power in sensory cortex reflects active suppression of task-irrelevant information ( Klimesch, 2012 ; Clayton et al, 2015 ; Peylo et al, 2021 ). For example, when attention is shifted to color as opposed to motion in the context of a task, or to one hemifield over another, or to sensory modalities other than vision, α power increases in the cortical areas that are irrelevant for the task: the dorsal visual stream, ipsilateral hemisphere, or the visual cortex, respectively ( Foxe et al, 1998 ; Snyder and Foxe, 2010 ; Doesburg et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhythmicity of Prefrontal Local Field Potentials after Nucleus Basalis Stimulation

Singh

Blake

et al. 2022

eNeuro

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The action of acetylcholine in the cortex is critical for cognitive functions and cholinergic drugs can improve functions such as attention and working memory. An alternative means of enhancing cholinergic neuromodulation in primates is the intermittent electrical stimulation of the cortical source of acetylcholine, the Nucleus Basalis (NB) of Meynert. NB stimulation generally increases firing rate of neurons in the prefrontal cortex, however its effects on single neurons are diverse and complex. We sought to understand how NB stimulation affects global measures of neural activity by recording and analyzing local field potentials (LFPs) in monkeys as they performed working memory tasks. NB stimulation primarily decreased power in the alpha frequency range during the delay interval of working memory tasks. The effect was consistent across variants of the task. No consistent modulation in the delay interval of the task was observed in the gamma frequency range, which has previously been implicated in the maintenance of working memory. Our results reveal global effects of cholinergic neuromodulation via deep brain stimulation, an emerging intervention for the improvement of cognitive function. Significance StatementStimulation of the endogenous source of acetylcholine in the cerebral cortex, the Nucleus Basalis (NB) of Meynert has shown promise as an alternative to cholinergic drugs, which are frontline medications for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and age-related dementia. The neural mechanisms through which stimulation may improve cognitive function are incompletely understood. Here we investigate the effects of NB stimulation in the prefrontal cortex by examining the power of the Local Field Potentials during execution of working memory tasks.

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“…Frequency power is the oscillatory activity measured in a particular frequency band (i.e., delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma), and activity in each of these frequency bands have been found to be related to particular cognitive characteristics. For instance, theta-band (4–8) oscillations have been found to be associated with memory and cognitive control [ 57 ], while alpha power is generally associated with spatial attention [ 58 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurobiological Responses towards Stimuli Depicting Aggressive Interactions in Delinquent Young Adults and Controls: No Relation to Reactive and Proactive Aggression

et al. 2022

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Neurobiological measures underlying aggressive behavior have gained attention due to their potential to inform risk assessment and treatment interventions. Aberrations in responsivity of the autonomic nervous system and electrophysiological responses to arousal-inducing stimuli have been related to emotional dysregulation and aggressive behavior. However, studies have often been performed in community samples, using tasks that induce arousal but not specifically depict aggression. In this study, we examined differences in psychophysiological (i.e., heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, skin conductance level) and electrophysiological responses (i.e., P3, late positive potential, mu suppression) to aggressive versus neutral scenes in a sample of 118 delinquent young adults and 25 controls (all male, aged 18–27). With respect to group differences, we only found significant higher SCL reactivity during the task in the delinquent group compared to controls, but this was irrespective of condition (aggressive and neutral interactions). Within the delinquent group, we also examined associations between the neurobiological measures and reactive and proactive aggression. No significant associations were found. Therefore, although we found some indication of emotional dysregulation in these delinquent young adults, future studies should further elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying emotional dysregulation in relation to different types of aggression.

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Cause or consequence? Alpha oscillations in visuospatial attention

Cited by 106 publications

References 62 publications

Alpha oscillations and stimulus-evoked activity dissociate metacognitive reports of attention, visibility and confidence in a rapid visual detection task

Alpha oscillations and stimulus-evoked activity dissociate metacognitive reports of attention, visibility and confidence in a rapid visual detection task

Rhythmicity of Prefrontal Local Field Potentials after Nucleus Basalis Stimulation

Neurobiological Responses towards Stimuli Depicting Aggressive Interactions in Delinquent Young Adults and Controls: No Relation to Reactive and Proactive Aggression

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