Pre-stimulus beta power mediates explicit and implicit perceptual biases in distinct cortical areas

Abstract

Perception is biased by expectations and previous actions. Pre-stimulus brain oscillations are a potential candidate for implementing biases in the brain. In two EEG studies on somatosensory near-threshold detection, we investigated the pre-stimulus neural correlates of an (implicit) previous choice bias and an explicit bias. The explicit bias was introduced by informing participants about stimulus probability on a single-trial level (volatile context) or block-wise (stable context). Behavioural analysis confirmed adjustments in the decision criterion and confidence ratings according to the cued probabilities and previous choice-induced biases. Pre-stimulus beta power with distinct sources in sensory and higher-order cortical areas predicted explicit and implicit biases, respectively, on a single subject level and partially mediated the impact of previous choice and stimulus probability on the detection response. We suggest that pre-stimulus beta oscillations in different brain areas are neural correlates of explicit and implicit biases in somatosensory perception.