TY - JOUR
T1 - EEG Alpha power predicts the temporal sensitivity of multisensory perception
AU - London, Raquel E.
AU - Benwell, Christopher S. Y.
AU - Cecere, Roberto
AU - Quak, Michel
AU - Thut, Gregor
AU - Talsma, Durk
N1 - This work was supported by Ghent University (BOF Grant: B/13469/01) to D.T. and the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (FWO-V; grant number V429516N) to R.E.L.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Pre-stimulus electroencephalogram (EEG) oscillations, especially in the alpha range (8–13 Hz), can affect the sensitivity to temporal lags between modalities in multisensory perception. The effects of alpha power are often explained in terms of alpha's inhibitory functions, whereas effects of alpha frequency have bolstered theories of discrete perceptual cycles, where the length of a cycle, or window of integration, is determined by alpha frequency. Such studies typically employ visual detection paradigms with near-threshold or even illusory stimuli. It is unclear whether such results generalize to above-threshold stimuli. Here, we recorded EEG, while measuring temporal discrimination sensitivity in a temporal-order judgement task using above-threshold auditory and visual stimuli. We tested whether the power and instantaneous frequency of pre-stimulus oscillations predict audiovisual temporal discrimination sensitivity on a trial-by-trial basis. By applying a jackknife procedure to link single-trial pre-stimulus oscillatory power and instantaneous frequency to psychometric measures, we identified a posterior cluster where lower alpha power was associated with higher temporal sensitivity of audiovisual discrimination. No statistically significant relationship between instantaneous alpha frequency and temporal sensitivity was found. These results suggest that temporal sensitivity for above-threshold multisensory stimuli fluctuates from moment to moment and is indexed by modulations in alpha power.
AB - Pre-stimulus electroencephalogram (EEG) oscillations, especially in the alpha range (8–13 Hz), can affect the sensitivity to temporal lags between modalities in multisensory perception. The effects of alpha power are often explained in terms of alpha's inhibitory functions, whereas effects of alpha frequency have bolstered theories of discrete perceptual cycles, where the length of a cycle, or window of integration, is determined by alpha frequency. Such studies typically employ visual detection paradigms with near-threshold or even illusory stimuli. It is unclear whether such results generalize to above-threshold stimuli. Here, we recorded EEG, while measuring temporal discrimination sensitivity in a temporal-order judgement task using above-threshold auditory and visual stimuli. We tested whether the power and instantaneous frequency of pre-stimulus oscillations predict audiovisual temporal discrimination sensitivity on a trial-by-trial basis. By applying a jackknife procedure to link single-trial pre-stimulus oscillatory power and instantaneous frequency to psychometric measures, we identified a posterior cluster where lower alpha power was associated with higher temporal sensitivity of audiovisual discrimination. No statistically significant relationship between instantaneous alpha frequency and temporal sensitivity was found. These results suggest that temporal sensitivity for above-threshold multisensory stimuli fluctuates from moment to moment and is indexed by modulations in alpha power.
KW - individual differences
KW - instantaneous frequency
KW - oscillations
KW - psychophysics
KW - temporal-order judgement
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131077022&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/ejn.15719
DO - 10.1111/ejn.15719
M3 - Article
C2 - 35569824
SN - 0953-816X
VL - 55
SP - 3241
EP - 3255
JO - European Journal of Neuroscience
JF - European Journal of Neuroscience
IS - 11-12
ER -