Some Evidence in Support of a Relationship between Human Auditory Signal-Detection Performance and the Phase of the Alpha Cycle

Abstract

This study concerned the hypothesis presented by Lindsley in 1961 that human sensorimotor performance should vary with the phase of the alpha cycle. Although there have been a number of studies which have supported this hypothesis, there has been no work from a modality other than the visual modality. Since eye tremor is correlated in phase and frequency with the alpha rhythm, these visual results might be explained by the peripheral eye tremor and not necessarily by the central alpha rhythm. The present study measured human auditory signal-detection performance at four different phases of the temporally (T5-linked mastoids) measured alpha rhythm. These four different phases were defined on an a priori basis by a computer algorithm. Detection performance was significantly better at the negative peak of this alpha cycle than at the positive peak, but there was no significant difference between the positively and negatively going zero cross performances. These results are consistent with the Lindsley hypothesis.

Good vibrations: Oscillatory phase shapes perception

“…Even though the modulation of the auditory detection threshold by the phase of the induced α-oscillations is rather modest, it confirms theories about a cyclic periodicity in perception (Busch et al, 2009;Mathewson et al, 2009;Rice and Hagstrom, 1989;Schroeder and Lakatos, 2009;VanRullen and Koch, 2003;Varela et al, 1981). In addition, the results of this study were based upon the detection performance of the observers across separate sessions, which demonstrates the reliability of the results.…”

“…While most previous studies on the dependency of perception upon phase investigated the visual domain, Rice and Hagstrom (1989) reported an effect of the α-phase in an auditory detection task. The EEG was recorded above the temporal cortex, similar to the position of our stimulation electrodes.…”

“…Depending on that internal state, identical external events can result in different perceptual and behavioral outcomes. In particular, the phase of the α-rhythm (8-12 Hz) has been proposed to account for differences in reaction times (Callaway and Yeager, 1960), the perceptual fate of auditory (Rice and Hagstrom, 1989) and visual stimuli (Busch et al, 2009;Mathewson et al, 2009), as well as visual attention (Busch and VanRullen, 2010).…”

Pulsed Out of Awareness: EEG Alpha Oscillations Represent a Pulsed-Inhibition of Ongoing Cortical Processing

“…Indeed, an early study found that identification of an auditory stimulus amongst noise differed as a function of the ongoing alpha-phase (Rice and Hagstrom, 1989). …”

Exploring the relationship of phase and peak-frequency EEG alpha-band and beta-band activity to temporal judgments of stimulus duration

“…The probability of detection of near-threshold visual (Busch, Dubois, & VanRullen, 2009;Mathewson, Gratton, Fabiani, Beck, & Ro, 2009) and auditory (Rice & Hagstrom, 1989) stimuli depends upon the phase of pre-stimulus activity around the alpha band (7-14 Hz). Moreover, low-frequency oscillations (~2-10 Hz) align to temporally predictable input (Lakatos, Karmos, Mehta, Ulbert, & Schroeder, 2008) with the probability of detecting subsequent nearthreshold stimuli being contingent on the phase of the entrained activity (Mathewson et al, 2012).…”