Learning temporal context shapes prestimulus alpha oscillations and improves visual discrimination performance
| Autor: | Hossein Esteky, Tahereh Toosi, Ehsan K. Tousi |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Physiology Speech recognition Temporal context Posterior parietal cortex Electroencephalography Neuropsychological Tests 050105 experimental psychology 03 medical and health sciences Young Adult 0302 clinical medicine Discrimination Psychological medicine Humans Learning 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Event (probability theory) Communication medicine.diagnostic_test business.industry General Neuroscience 05 social sciences Uncertainty Brain Anticipation Psychological Alpha (programming language) Alpha Rhythm Pattern Recognition Visual Visual discrimination Time Perception Psychology business Alpha power 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Research Article |
| Popis: | Time is an inseparable component of every physical event that we perceive, yet it is not clear how the brain processes time or how the neuronal representation of time affects our perception of events. Here we asked subjects to perform a visual discrimination task while we changed the temporal context in which the stimuli were presented. We collected electroencephalography (EEG) signals in two temporal contexts. In predictable blocks stimuli were presented after a constant delay relative to a visual cue, and in unpredictable blocks stimuli were presented after variable delays relative to the visual cue. Four subsecond delays of 83, 150, 400, and 800 ms were used in the predictable and unpredictable blocks. We observed that predictability modulated the power of prestimulus alpha oscillations in the parieto-occipital sites: alpha power increased in the 300-ms window before stimulus onset in the predictable blocks compared with the unpredictable blocks. This modulation only occurred in the longest delay period, 800 ms, in which predictability also improved the behavioral performance of the subjects. Moreover, learning the temporal context shaped the prestimulus alpha power: modulation of prestimulus alpha power grew during the predictable block and correlated with performance enhancement. These results suggest that the brain is able to learn the subsecond temporal context of stimuli and use this to enhance sensory processing. Furthermore, the neural correlate of this temporal prediction is reflected in the alpha oscillations. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|