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van der Werf OJ, Schuhmann T, de Graaf T, Ten Oever S, Sack AT. Investigating the role of task relevance during rhythmic sampling of spatial locations. Sci Rep 2023; 13:12707. [PMID: 37543646 PMCID: PMC10404272 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-38968-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2023] [Indexed: 08/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Recently it has been discovered that visuospatial attention operates rhythmically, rather than being stably employed over time. A low-frequency 7-8 Hz rhythmic mechanism coordinates periodic windows to sample relevant locations and to shift towards other, less relevant locations in a visual scene. Rhythmic sampling theories would predict that when two locations are relevant 8 Hz sampling mechanisms split into two, effectively resulting in a 4 Hz sampling frequency at each location. Therefore, it is expected that rhythmic sampling is influenced by the relative importance of locations for the task at hand. To test this, we employed an orienting task with an arrow cue, where participants were asked to respond to a target presented in one visual field. The cue-to-target interval was systematically varied, allowing us to assess whether performance follows a rhythmic pattern across cue-to-target delays. We manipulated a location's task relevance by altering the validity of the cue, thereby predicting the correct location in 60%, 80% or 100% of trials. Results revealed significant 4 Hz performance fluctuations at cued right visual field targets with low cue validity (60%), suggesting regular sampling of both locations. With high cue validity (80%), we observed a peak at 8 Hz towards non-cued targets, although not significant. These results were in line with our hypothesis suggesting a goal-directed balancing of attentional sampling (cued location) and shifting (non-cued location) depending on the relevance of locations in a visual scene. However, considering the hemifield specificity of the effect together with the absence of expected effects for cued trials in the high valid conditions we further discuss the interpretation of the data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olof J van der Werf
- Section Brain Stimulation and Cognition, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6229 EV, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
| | - Teresa Schuhmann
- Section Brain Stimulation and Cognition, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6229 EV, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Tom de Graaf
- Section Brain Stimulation and Cognition, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6229 EV, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Sanne Ten Oever
- Section Brain Stimulation and Cognition, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6229 EV, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Language and Computation in Neural Systems Group, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Alexander T Sack
- Section Brain Stimulation and Cognition, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6229 EV, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Brain and Nerve Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre+ (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands
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Lui TKY, Obleser J, Wöstmann M. Slow neural oscillations explain temporal fluctuations in distractibility. Prog Neurobiol 2023; 226:102458. [PMID: 37088261 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2023.102458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2022] [Revised: 03/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 04/25/2023]
Abstract
Human environments comprise various sources of distraction, which often occur unexpectedly in time. The proneness to distraction (i.e., distractibility) is posited to be independent of attentional sampling of targets, but its temporal dynamics and neurobiological basis are largely unknown. Brain oscillations in the theta band (3 - 8Hz) have been associated with fluctuating neural excitability, which is hypothesised here to explain rhythmic modulation of distractibility. In a pitch discrimination task (N = 30) with unexpected auditory distractors, we show that distractor-evoked neural responses in the electroencephalogram and perceptual susceptibility to distraction were co-modulated and cycled approximately 3 - 5 times per second. Pre-distractor neural phase in left inferior frontal and insular cortex regions explained fluctuating distractibility. Thus, human distractibility is not constant but fluctuates on a subsecond timescale. Furthermore, slow neural oscillations subserve the behavioural consequences of a hitherto largely unexplained but ever-increasing phenomenon in modern environments - distraction by unexpected sound.
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Affiliation(s)
- Troby Ka-Yan Lui
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany; Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany.
| | - Jonas Obleser
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany; Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
| | - Malte Wöstmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany; Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany.
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Abdalaziz M, Redding ZV, Fiebelkorn IC. Rhythmic temporal coordination of neural activity prevents representational conflict during working memory. Curr Biol 2023; 33:1855-1863.e3. [PMID: 37100058 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.03.088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Revised: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 04/28/2023]
Abstract
Selective attention1 is characterized by alternating states associated with either attentional sampling or attentional shifting, helping to prevent functional conflicts by isolating function-specific neural activity in time.2,3,4,5 We hypothesized that such rhythmic temporal coordination might also help to prevent representational conflicts during working memory.6 Multiple items can be simultaneously held in working memory, and these items can be represented by overlapping neural populations.7,8,9 Traditional theories propose that the short-term storage of to-be-remembered items occurs through persistent neural activity,10,11,12 but when neurons are simultaneously representing multiple items, persistent activity creates a potential for representational conflicts. In comparison, more recent, "activity-silent" theories of working memory propose that synaptic changes also contribute to short-term storage of to-be-remembered items.13,14,15,16 Transient bursts in neural activity,17 rather than persistent activity, could serve to occasionally refresh these synaptic changes. Here, we used EEG and response times to test whether rhythmic temporal coordination helps to isolate neural activity associated with different to-be-remembered items, thereby helping to prevent representational conflicts. Consistent with this hypothesis, we report that the relative strength of different item representations alternates over time as a function of the frequency-specific phase. Although RTs were linked to theta (∼6 Hz) and beta (∼25 Hz) phases during a memory delay, the relative strength of item representations only alternated as a function of the beta phase. The present findings (1) are consistent with rhythmic temporal coordination being a general mechanism for preventing functional or representational conflicts during cognitive processes and (2) inform models describing the role of oscillatory dynamics in organizing working memory.13,18,19,20,21.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miral Abdalaziz
- Department of Neuroscience and Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
| | - Zach V Redding
- Department of Neuroscience and Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
| | - Ian C Fiebelkorn
- Department of Neuroscience and Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA.
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Pomper U, Ansorge U. Motor-induced oscillations in choice response performance. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14172. [PMID: 36040756 PMCID: PMC10078311 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2021] [Revised: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 08/03/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Recently, numerous studies have revealed 4-12 Hz fluctuations of behavioral performance in a multitude of tasks. The majority has utilized stimuli near detection threshold and observed related fluctuations in hit-rates, attributing these to perceptual or attentional processes. As neural oscillations in the 8-20 Hz range also feature prominently in cortical motor areas, they might cause fluctuations in the ability to induce responses, independent of attentional capabilities. Additionally, different effectors (e.g., the left versus right hand) might be cyclically prioritized in an alternating fashion, similar to the attentional sampling of distinct locations, objects, or memory templates. Here, we investigated these questions via a behavioral dense-sampling approach. Twenty-six participants performed a simple visual discrimination task using highly salient stimuli. We varied the interval between each motor response and the subsequent target from 330 to 1040 ms, and analyzed performance as a function of this interval. Our data show significant fluctuations of both RTs and sensitivity between 12.5 and 25 Hz, but no evidence for an alternating prioritization of left- versus right-hand responses. While our results suggest an impact of motor-related signals on performance oscillations, they might additionally be influenced by perceptual processes earlier in the processing hierarchy. In summary, we demonstrate that behavioral oscillations generalize to situations involving highly salient stimuli, closer to everyday life. Moreover, our work adds to the literature by showing fluctuations at a high speed, which might be a consequence of both low task difficulty and the involvement of sensorimotor rhythms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ulrich Pomper
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ulrich Ansorge
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.,Cognitive Science Research Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.,Research Platform Mediatised Lifeworlds, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Fiebelkorn IC. There Is More Evidence of Rhythmic Attention than Can Be Found in Behavioral Studies: Perspective on Brookshire, 2022. J Cogn Neurosci 2022; 35:128-134. [PMID: 36306250 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Recent research indicates periodicity in attention-related sampling and switching, with some of the initial findings coming from behavioral studies. Brookshire [Brookshire, G. Putative rhythms in attentional switching can be explained by aperiodic temporal structure. Nature Human Behaviour, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01364-0], points out that widely used approaches to testing for rhythms in behavioral times series can misclassify consistent aperiodic patterns in temporal structure as periodic patterns. Evidence for rhythmic attention, however, is not limited to behavioral data. Here, I briefly discuss (i) issues with differentiating periodic and aperiodic structure in both behavioral and neural time series, (ii) findings from neural data that are consistent with rhythmic sampling and switching during attentional deployment, and (iii) whether alternative approaches to establishing periodicity in behavioral time series, recommended by Brookshire are appropriate for this particular research topic.
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Reavis EA, Wynn JK, Green MF. The flickering spotlight of visual attention: Characterizing abnormal object-based attention in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2022; 248:151-157. [PMID: 36063606 PMCID: PMC10362949 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2022.08.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/21/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is associated with deficits in both object perception and visual attention. However, few studies in schizophrenia have investigated object-based attention, which is dissociable from other forms of visuospatial attention. Recent research in healthy populations has shown that the 'spotlight' of sustained visual attention flickers in a rhythmic, oscillatory fashion at specific frequencies in the 4-12 Hz range. In healthy samples, this oscillatory signature has been used to investigate spatiotemporal dynamics of object-based attention, showing that the attentional spotlight spreads to uncued locations within cued objects, and also periodically alternates focus between cued and uncued objects. In this study, we adapted a performance-based visual object cueing task to investigate object-based attention in individuals with a schizophrenia diagnosis and healthy controls. In controls, spatiotemporal patterns of object-based attention closely resembled those reported in previous studies of healthy individuals. In the schizophrenia group, the oscillatory signature of attention also appeared in the location of the cue and on uncued objects, similar to the effects in controls. Indeed, the oscillatory signature of attention at the spatial location of the cue was stronger in the schizophrenia group than in controls. However, attention did not spread across the cued object in schizophrenia; rather, attention appeared to remain hyperfocused at the spatial location of the cue. These findings provide the first evidence that visual attention has oscillatory characteristics in schizophrenia, as in the general population. The results also show that the fundamental process of attentional spreading which underlies object-based attention is abnormal in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric A Reavis
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, United States of America; VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, United States of America.
| | - Jonathan K Wynn
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, United States of America; VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, United States of America
| | - Michael F Green
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, United States of America; VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, United States of America
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Keitel C, Ruzzoli M, Dugué L, Busch NA, Benwell CSY. Rhythms in cognition: The evidence revisited. Eur J Neurosci 2022; 55:2991-3009. [PMID: 35696729 PMCID: PMC9544967 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2022] [Revised: 05/27/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Manuela Ruzzoli
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), Donostia/San Sebastian, Spain.,Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Laura Dugué
- Université Paris Cité, INCC UMR 8002, CNRS, Paris, France.,Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
| | - Niko A Busch
- Institute for Psychology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
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Ten Oever S, van der Werf OJ, Schuhmann T, Sack AT. Absence of behavioral rhythms: noise or unexplained neuronal mechanisms? (response to Fiebelkorn, 2021). Eur J Neurosci 2022; 55:3121-3124. [PMID: 35193154 PMCID: PMC9545739 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sanne Ten Oever
- Language and Computation in Neural Systems group, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Olof J van der Werf
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Teresa Schuhmann
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Alexander T Sack
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Brain and Nerve Centre, Maastricht University Medical Centre+ (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands
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