Tuning alpha rhythms to shape conscious visual perception

Di Gregorio, F., Trajkovic, J., Roperti, C., Marcantoni, E., Di Luzio, P., Avenanti, A., Thut, G. and Romei, V. (2022) Tuning alpha rhythms to shape conscious visual perception. Current Biology, 32(5), 988-998.e6. (doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.01.003) (PMID:35090592)

Abstract

It is commonly held that what we see and what we believe we see are overlapping phenomena. However, dissociations between sensory events and their subjective interpretation occur in the general population and in clinical disorders, raising the question as to whether perceptual accuracy and its subjective interpretation represent mechanistically dissociable events. Here, we uncover the role that alpha oscillations play in shaping these two indices of human conscious experience. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure occipital alpha oscillations during a visual detection task, which were then entrained using rhythmic-TMS. We found that controlling prestimulus alpha frequency by rhythmic-TMS modulated perceptual accuracy, but not subjective confidence in it, whereas controlling poststimulus (but not prestimulus) alpha amplitude modulated how well subjective confidence judgments can distinguish between correct and incorrect decision, but not accuracy. These findings provide the first causal evidence of a double dissociation between alpha speed and alpha amplitude, linking alpha frequency to spatiotemporal sampling resources and alpha amplitude to the internal, subjective representation and interpretation of sensory events.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: F.D.G. is supported by the Ministero della Salute (SG-2018-12367527); A.A. is supported by the Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna (339bis/2017), the Bial Foundation (347/18), and Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (2017N7WCLP); and V.R. is supported by the Bial Foundation (204/18).
• Keywords: Alpha oscillations, alpha amplitude, alpha entrainment, conscious perception, rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulation, visual perception, electroencephalography, alpha frequency, confidence.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Thut, Professor Gregor
• Authors: Di Gregorio, F., Trajkovic, J., Roperti, C., Marcantoni, E., Di Luzio, P., Avenanti, A., Thut, G., and Romei, V.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Current Biology
• Publisher: Elsevier (Cell Press)
• ISSN: 0960-9822
• ISSN (Online): 1879-0445
• Published Online: 31 January 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 Elsevier
• First Published: First published in Current Biology 32(5): 988-998.e6
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher

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