Abstract
For attentional control of behavior, the brain permanently resolves a competition between the impressions supplied by different senses. Here, using a dual-modality temporal order detection task, we studied attentional modulation of oscillatory neuromagnetic activity in the human cerebral cortex. On each trial, after simultaneous exposure to visual and auditory noise, subjects were presented with an asynchronous pair of a visual and an auditory stimulus. Either of the two stimuli could occur first equally often, their order was not cued. Subjects had to determine the leading stimulus in a pair and attentively monitor it to respond upon its offset. With the attended visual or auditory stimuli, spectral power analysis revealed marked enhancements of induced gamma activity within 250 ms post-stimulus onset over the modality-specific cortices (occipital at 64 Hz, right temporal at 53 Hz). When unattended, however, the stimuli led to a significantly decreased (beneath baseline) gamma response in these cortical regions. The gamma decreases occurred at lower frequencies (∼30 Hz) than did the gamma increases. An increase in the gamma power and frequency for the attended modality and their decrease for the unattended modality suggest that attentional regulation of multisensory processing involves reciprocal changes in synchronization of respective cortical networks. We assume that the gamma decrease reflects an active suppression of the task-irrelevant sensory input. This suppression occurs at lower frequencies, suggesting an involvement of larger scale cell assemblies.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 521-529 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | NeuroImage |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2004 |
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Keywords
- Attentional modulation
- Auditory stimulation
- Gamma-band activity
- Human cerebral cortex
- Magnetoencephalography
- Visual motion
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neurology
Cite this
Reciprocal modulation of neuromagnetic induced gamma activity by attention in the human visual and auditory cortex. / Sokolov, Alexander; Pavlova, Marina; Lutzenberger, Werner; Birbaumer, Niels.
In: NeuroImage, Vol. 22, No. 2, 06.2004, p. 521-529.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Reciprocal modulation of neuromagnetic induced gamma activity by attention in the human visual and auditory cortex
AU - Sokolov, Alexander
AU - Pavlova, Marina
AU - Lutzenberger, Werner
AU - Birbaumer, Niels
PY - 2004/6
Y1 - 2004/6
N2 - For attentional control of behavior, the brain permanently resolves a competition between the impressions supplied by different senses. Here, using a dual-modality temporal order detection task, we studied attentional modulation of oscillatory neuromagnetic activity in the human cerebral cortex. On each trial, after simultaneous exposure to visual and auditory noise, subjects were presented with an asynchronous pair of a visual and an auditory stimulus. Either of the two stimuli could occur first equally often, their order was not cued. Subjects had to determine the leading stimulus in a pair and attentively monitor it to respond upon its offset. With the attended visual or auditory stimuli, spectral power analysis revealed marked enhancements of induced gamma activity within 250 ms post-stimulus onset over the modality-specific cortices (occipital at 64 Hz, right temporal at 53 Hz). When unattended, however, the stimuli led to a significantly decreased (beneath baseline) gamma response in these cortical regions. The gamma decreases occurred at lower frequencies (∼30 Hz) than did the gamma increases. An increase in the gamma power and frequency for the attended modality and their decrease for the unattended modality suggest that attentional regulation of multisensory processing involves reciprocal changes in synchronization of respective cortical networks. We assume that the gamma decrease reflects an active suppression of the task-irrelevant sensory input. This suppression occurs at lower frequencies, suggesting an involvement of larger scale cell assemblies.
AB - For attentional control of behavior, the brain permanently resolves a competition between the impressions supplied by different senses. Here, using a dual-modality temporal order detection task, we studied attentional modulation of oscillatory neuromagnetic activity in the human cerebral cortex. On each trial, after simultaneous exposure to visual and auditory noise, subjects were presented with an asynchronous pair of a visual and an auditory stimulus. Either of the two stimuli could occur first equally often, their order was not cued. Subjects had to determine the leading stimulus in a pair and attentively monitor it to respond upon its offset. With the attended visual or auditory stimuli, spectral power analysis revealed marked enhancements of induced gamma activity within 250 ms post-stimulus onset over the modality-specific cortices (occipital at 64 Hz, right temporal at 53 Hz). When unattended, however, the stimuli led to a significantly decreased (beneath baseline) gamma response in these cortical regions. The gamma decreases occurred at lower frequencies (∼30 Hz) than did the gamma increases. An increase in the gamma power and frequency for the attended modality and their decrease for the unattended modality suggest that attentional regulation of multisensory processing involves reciprocal changes in synchronization of respective cortical networks. We assume that the gamma decrease reflects an active suppression of the task-irrelevant sensory input. This suppression occurs at lower frequencies, suggesting an involvement of larger scale cell assemblies.
KW - Attentional modulation
KW - Auditory stimulation
KW - Gamma-band activity
KW - Human cerebral cortex
KW - Magnetoencephalography
KW - Visual motion
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=2942525295&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.01.045
DO - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.01.045
M3 - Article
VL - 22
SP - 521
EP - 529
JO - NeuroImage
JF - NeuroImage
SN - 1053-8119
IS - 2
ER -