Prestimulus oscillations enhance psychophysical performance in humans

Linkenkaer-Hansen, K., Nikulin, V. V., Palva, S. , Ilmoniemi, R. J. and Palva, J. M. (2004) Prestimulus oscillations enhance psychophysical performance in humans. Journal of Neuroscience, 24(45), pp. 10186-10190. (doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2584-04.2004) (PMID:15537890)

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Abstract

The presence of various ongoing oscillations in the brain is correlated with behavioral states such as restful wakefulness or drowsiness. However, even when subjects aim to maintain a high level of vigilance, ongoing oscillations exhibit large amplitude variability on time scales of hundreds of milliseconds to seconds, suggesting that the functional state of local cortical networks is continuously changing. How this volatility of ongoing oscillations influences the perception of sensory stimuli has remained essentially unknown. We investigated the relationship between prestimulus neuronal oscillations and the subjects' ability to consciously perceive and react to somatosensory stimuli near the threshold of detection. We show that, for prestimulus oscillations at ∼10, 20, and 40 Hz detected over the sensorimotor cortex, intermediate amplitudes were associated with the highest probability of conscious detection and the shortest reaction times. In contrast, for 10 and 20 Hz prestimulus oscillations detected over the parietal region, the largest amplitudes were associated with the best performance. Our data indicate that the prestimulus oscillatory activity detected over sensorimotor and parietal cortices has a profound effect on the processing of weak stimuli. Furthermore, the results suggest that ongoing oscillations in sensory cortices may optimize the processing of sensory stimuli with the same mechanism as noise sources in intrinsic stochastic resonance.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:This work was supported by the Danish Research Agency, the Foundation of Technology (Finland), the Academy of Finland, the Helsinki University Central Hospital Research Funds, and the Juselius Foundation.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Palva, Professor Satu and Palva, Professor Matias
Authors: Linkenkaer-Hansen, K., Nikulin, V. V., Palva, S., Ilmoniemi, R. J., and Palva, J. M.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
Journal Name:Journal of Neuroscience
Publisher:Society for Neuroscience
ISSN:0270-6474
ISSN (Online):1529-2401

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