Somatosensory Anticipatory Alpha Activity Increases to Suppress Distracting Input

被引:162
作者
Haegens, Saskia [1 ]
Luther, Lisa [1 ]
Jensen, Ole [1 ]
机构
[1] Radboud Univ Nijmegen, Donders Inst Brain Cognit & Behav, NL-6500 HB Nijmegen, Netherlands
关键词
VISUAL-SPATIAL ATTENTION; CORTICAL OSCILLATIONS; WORKING-MEMORY; MU RHYTHM; BAND; PERFORMANCE; INHIBITION; MODULATION; EVENT; DESYNCHRONIZATION;
D O I
10.1162/jocn_a_00164
中图分类号
Q189 [神经科学];
学科分类号
071006 [神经生物学];
摘要
Effective processing of sensory input in daily life requires attentional selection and amplification of relevant input and, just as importantly, attenuation of irrelevant information. It has been proposed that top-down modulation of oscillatory alpha band activity (8-14 Hz) serves to allocate resources to various regions, depending on task demands. In previous work, we showed that contralateral somatosensory alpha activity decreases to facilitate processing of an anticipated target stimulus in a tactile discrimination task. In the current study, we asked whether somatosensory alpha activity is also modulated when expecting incoming distracting stimuli on the nonattended side. We hypothesized that an ipsilateral increase of alpha to suppress distracters would be required for optimal task performance. We recorded magneto-encephalography while subjects performed a tactile stimulus discrimination task where a cue directed attention either to their left or right hand. Distracters were presented simultaneously to the unattended hand. We found that alpha power contralateral to the attended hand decreased, whereas ipsilateral alpha power increased. In addition, posterior alpha power showed a general increase. Importantly, these three alpha components all contributed to discrimination performance. This study further extends the notion that alpha band activity is involved in shaping the functional architecture of the working brain by determining the engagement and disengagement of specific regions: Contralateral alpha decreases to facilitate stimulus detection, whereas ipsilateral alpha increases when active suppression of distracters is required. Importantly, the ipsilateral alpha increase is crucial for optimal task performance.
引用
收藏
页码:677 / 685
页数:9
相关论文
共 45 条
[1]
ATTENTIONAL MODULATION OF THE SOMATOSENSORY MU RHYTHM [J].
Anderson, K. L. ;
Ding, M. .
NEUROSCIENCE, 2011, 180 :165-180
[2]
Tangential derivative mapping of axial MEG applied to event-related desynchronization research [J].
Bastiaansen, MCM ;
Knösche, TR .
CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY, 2000, 111 (07) :1300-1305
[3]
Neuronal Mechanisms and Attentional Modulation of Corticothalamic Alpha Oscillations [J].
Bollimunta, Anil ;
Mo, Jue ;
Schroeder, Charles E. ;
Ding, Mingzhou .
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, 2011, 31 (13) :4935-4943
[4]
Neuromagnetic imaging of cortical oscillations accompanying tactile stimulation [J].
Cheyne, DL ;
Gaetz, W ;
Garnero, L ;
Lachaux, JP ;
Ducorps, A ;
Schwartz, D ;
Varela, FJ .
COGNITIVE BRAIN RESEARCH, 2003, 17 (03) :599-611
[5]
Paradox lost? Exploring the role of alpha oscillations during externally vs. internally directed attention and the implications for idling and inhibition hypotheses [J].
Cooper, NR ;
Croft, RJ ;
Dominey, SJJ ;
Burgess, AP ;
Gruzelier, JH .
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, 2003, 47 (01) :65-74
[6]
Alpha rhythm of the EEG modulates visual detection performance in humans [J].
Ergenoglu, T ;
Demiralp, T ;
Bayraktaroglu, Z ;
Ergen, M ;
Beydagi, H ;
Uresin, Y .
COGNITIVE BRAIN RESEARCH, 2004, 20 (03) :376-383
[7]
Parieto-occipital ∼10 Hz activity reflects anticipatory state of visual attention mechanisms [J].
Foxe, JJ ;
Simpson, GV ;
Ahlfors, SP .
NEUROREPORT, 1998, 9 (17) :3929-3933
[8]
Attention-dependent suppression of distracter visual input can be cross-modally cued as indexed by anticipatory parieto-occipital alpha-band oscillations [J].
Fu, KMG ;
Foxe, JJ ;
Murray, MM ;
Higgins, BA ;
Javitt, DC ;
Schroeder, CE .
COGNITIVE BRAIN RESEARCH, 2001, 12 (01) :145-152
[9]
Indexing the graded allocation of visuospatial attention using anticipatory alpha oscillations [J].
Gould, Ian C. ;
Rushworth, Matthew F. ;
Nobre, Anna C. .
JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY, 2011, 105 (03) :1318-1326
[10]
Dynamic imaging of coherent sources:: Studying neural interactions in the human brain [J].
Gross, J ;
Kujala, J ;
Hämäläinen, M ;
Timmermann, L ;
Schnitzler, A ;
Salmelin, R .
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2001, 98 (02) :694-699