Distinct Cortical Networks Subserve Spatio-temporal Sampling in Vision through Different Oscillatory Rhythms.

Although visual input arrives continuously, sensory information is segmented into (quasi-)discrete events. Here, we investigated the neural correlates of spatiotemporal binding in humans with magnetoencephalography using two tasks where separate flashes were presented on each trial but were perceived, in a bistable way, as either a single or two separate events. The first task (two-flash fusion) involved judging one versus two flashes, whereas the second task (apparent motion: AM) involved judging coherent motion versus two stationary flashes. Results indicate two different functional networks underlying two unique aspects of temporal binding. In two-flash fusion trials, involving an integration window of ∼50 msec, evoked responses differed as a function of perceptual interpretation by ∼25 msec after stimuli offset. Multivariate decoding of subjective perception based on prestimulus oscillatory phase was significant for alpha-band activity in the right medial temporal (V5/MT) area, with the strength of prestimulus connectivity between early visual areas and V5/MT being predictive of performance. In contrast, the longer integration window (∼130 msec) for AM showed evoked field differences only ∼250 msec after stimuli offset. Phase decoding of the perceptual outcome in AM trials was significant for theta-band activity in the right intraparietal sulcus. Prestimulus theta-band connectivity between V5/MT and intraparietal sulcus best predicted AM perceptual outcome. For both tasks, phase effects found could not be accounted by concomitant variations in power. These results show a strong relationship between specific spatiotemporal binding windows and specific oscillations, linked to the information flow between different areas of the where and when visual pathways.

Spontaneous Alpha-Band Oscillations Bias Subjective Contrast Perception.

Perceptual decisions depend both on the features of the incoming stimulus and on the ongoing brain activity at the moment the stimulus is received. Specifically, trial-to-trial fluctuations in cortical excitability have been linked to fluctuations in the amplitude of prestimulus α oscillations (∼8-13 Hz), which are in turn are associated with fluctuations in subjects' tendency to report the detection of a stimulus. It is currently unknown whether α oscillations bias postperceptual decision-making, or even bias subjective perception itself. To answer this question, we used a contrast discrimination task in which both male and female human subjects reported which of two gratings (one in each hemifield) was perceived as having a stronger contrast. Our EEG analysis showed that subjective contrast was reduced for the stimulus in the hemifield represented in the hemisphere with relatively stronger prestimulus α amplitude, reflecting reduced cortical excitability. Furthermore, the strength of this spontaneous hemispheric lateralization was strongly correlated with the magnitude of individual subjects' biases, suggesting that the spontaneous patterns of α lateralization play a role in explaining the intersubject variability in contrast perception. These results indicate that spontaneous fluctuations in cortical excitability, indicated by patterns of prestimulus α amplitude, affect perceptual decisions by altering the phenomenological perception of the visual world.Significance Statement:Our moment-to-moment perception of the world is shaped by the features of the environment surrounding us, as much as by the constantly evolving states that characterize our brain activity. Previous research showed how the ongoing electrical activity of the brain can influence whether a stimulus has accessed conscious perception. However, evidence is currently missing on whether these electrical brain states can be associated to the subjective experience of a sensory input. Here we show that local changes in patterns of electrical brain activity preceding visual stimulation can bias our phenomenological perception. Importantly, we show that the strength of these variations can help explain the great interindividual variability in how we perceive the visual environment surrounding us.

Evidence for a theta-band behavioural oscillation in rapid face detection.

Theories of rhythmic perception propose that perceptual sampling operates in a periodic way, with alternating moments of high and low responsiveness to sensory inputs. This rhythmic sampling is linked to neural oscillations and thought to produce fluctuations in behavioural outcomes. Previous studies have revealed theta- and alpha-band behavioural oscillations in low-level visual tasks and object categorization. However, less is known about fluctuations in face perception, for which the human brain has developed a highly specialized network. To investigate this, we ran an online study (N = 179) incorporating the dense sampling technique with a dual-target rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm. In each trial, a stream of object images was presented at 30 Hz and participants were tasked with detecting whether or not there was a face image in the sequence. On some trials, one or two (identical) face images (the target) were embedded in each stream. On dual-target trials, the targets were separated by an interstimulus interval (ISI) that varied between 0 to 633 ms. The task was to indicate the presence of the target and its gender if present. Performance varied as a function of ISI, with a significant behavioural oscillation in the face detection task at 7.5 Hz, driven mainly by the male target faces. This finding is consistent with a high theta-band-based fluctuation in visual processing. Such fluctuations might reflect rhythmic attentional sampling or, alternatively, feedback loops involved in updating top-down predictions.

Shared resources between visual attention and visual working memory are allocated through rhythmic sampling.

Attention and visual working memory (VWM) are among the most theoretically detailed and empirically tested constructs in human cognition. Nevertheless, the nature of the interrelation between selective attention and VWM still presents a fundamental controversy: Do they rely on the same cognitive resources or not? The present study aims at disentangling this issue by capitalizing on recent evidence showing that attention is a rhythmic phenomenon, oscillating over short time windows. Using a dual-task approach, we combined a classic VWM task with a visual detection task in which we densely sampled detection performance during the time between the memory and the test array. Our results show that an increment in VWM load was related to reduced detection of near-threshold visual stimuli. Importantly, we observed an oscillatory pattern in detection at ~7.5 Hz in the low VWM load conditions, which decreased towards ~5 Hz in the high VWM load condition. These findings suggest that the frequency of this sampling rhythm changes according to the allocation of attentional resources to either the VWM or the detection task. This pattern of results is consistent with a central sampling attentional rhythm which allocates shared attentional resources both to the flow of external visual stimulation and to the internal maintenance of visual information.

The extent and specificity of visual exploration determines the formation of recollected memories in complex scenes.

Our visual memories of complex scenes often appear as robust, detailed records of the past. Several studies have demonstrated that active exploration with eye movements improves recognition memory for scenes, but it is unclear whether this improvement is due to stronger feelings of familiarity or more detailed recollection. We related the extent and specificity of fixation patterns at encoding and retrieval to different recognition decisions in an incidental memory paradigm. After incidental encoding of 240 real-world scene photographs, participants (N = 44) answered a surprise memory test by reporting whether an image was new, remembered (indicating recollection), or just known to be old (indicating familiarity). To assess the specificity of their visual memories, we devised a novel report procedure in which participants selected the scene region that they specifically recollected, that appeared most familiar, or that was particularly new to them. At encoding, when considering the entire scene,subsequently recollected compared to familiar or forgotten scenes showed a larger number of fixations that were more broadly distributed, suggesting that more extensive visual exploration determines stronger and more detailed memories. However, when considering only the memory-relevant image areas, fixations were more dense and more clustered for subsequently recollected compared to subsequently familiar scenes. At retrieval, the extent of visual exploration was more restricted for recollected compared to new or forgotten scenes, with a smaller number of fixations. Importantly, fixation density and clustering was greater in memory-relevant areas for recollected versus familiar or falsely recognized images. Our findings suggest that more extensive visual exploration across the entire scene, with a subset of more focal and dense fixations in specific image areas, leads to increased potential for recollecting specific image aspects.

Alpha-Band Lateralization and Microsaccades Elicited by Exogenous Cues Do Not Track Attentional Orienting.

We explore the world by constantly shifting our focus of attention toward salient stimuli and then disengaging from them in search of new ones. The alpha rhythm (8-13 Hz) has been suggested as a pivotal neural substrate of these attentional shifts, due to its local synchronization and desynchronization that suppress irrelevant cortical areas and facilitate relevant areas, a phenomenon called alpha lateralization. Whether alpha lateralization tracks the focus of attention from orienting toward a salient stimulus to disengaging from it is still an open question. We addressed it by leveraging the phenomenon of inhibition of return (IOR), consisting of an initial facilitation in response times (RTs) for stimuli appearing at an exogenously cued location, followed by a suppression of that location. Our behavioral data from human participants showed a typical IOR effect with both early facilitation and subsequent inhibition. In contrast, alpha lateralized in the cued direction after the behavioral facilitation effect and never re-lateralized compatibly with the behavioral inhibition. Furthermore, we analyzed the interaction between alpha lateralization and microsaccades: while alpha was lateralized toward the cued location, microsaccades were mostly oriented away from it. Crucially, the two phenomena showed a significant positive correlation. These results indicate that alpha lateralization reflects primarily the processing of salient stimuli, challenging the view that alpha lateralization is directly involved in exogenous attentional orienting per se. We discuss the relevance of the present findings for an oculomotor account of alpha lateralization as a modulator of cortical excitability in preparation of a saccade.

Respiration aligns perception with neural excitability.

Recent studies from the field of interoception have highlighted the link between bodily and neural rhythms during action, perception, and cognition. The mechanisms underlying functional body-brain coupling, however, are poorly understood, as are the ways in which they modulate behavior. We acquired respiration and human magnetoencephalography data from a near-threshold spatial detection task to investigate the trivariate relationship between respiration, neural excitability, and performance. Respiration was found to significantly modulate perceptual sensitivity as well as posterior alpha power (8-13 Hz), a well-established proxy of cortical excitability. In turn, alpha suppression prior to detected versus undetected targets underscored the behavioral benefits of heightened excitability. Notably, respiration-locked excitability changes were maximized at a respiration phase lag of around -30° and thus temporally preceded performance changes. In line with interoceptive inference accounts, these results suggest that respiration actively aligns sampling of sensory information with transient cycles of heightened excitability to facilitate performance.