UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Individual differences in alpha frequency drive crossmodal illusory perception

Cecere, R; Romei, V; Rees, G; (2015) Individual differences in alpha frequency drive crossmodal illusory perception. Current Biology , 25 (2) 231 - 235. 10.1016/j.cub.2014.11.034. Green open access

[thumbnail of PIIS096098221401495X.pdf] PDF
PIIS096098221401495X.pdf

Download (713kB)

Abstract

Perception routinely integrates inputs from different senses. Stimulus temporal proximity critically determines whether or not these inputs are bound together. Despite the temporal window of integration being a widely accepted notion, its neurophysiological substrate remains unclear. Many types of common audio-visual interactions occur within a time window of ∼100 ms [1-5]. For example, in the sound-induced double-flash illusion, when two beeps are presented within ∼100 ms together with one flash, a second illusory flash is often perceived [2]. Due to their intrinsic rhythmic nature, brain oscillations are one candidate mechanism for gating the temporal window of integration. Interestingly, occipital alpha band oscillations cycle on average every ∼100 ms, with peak frequencies ranging between 8 and 14 Hz (i.e., 120-60 ms cycle). Moreover, presenting a brief tone can phase-reset such oscillations in visual cortex [6, 7]. Based on these observations, we hypothesized that the duration of each alpha cycle might provide the temporal unit to bind audio-visual events. Here, we first recorded EEG while participants performed the sound-induced double-flash illusion task [4] and found positive correlation between individual alpha frequency (IAF) peak and the size of the temporal window of the illusion. Participants then performed the same task while receiving occipital transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), to modulate oscillatory activity [8] either at their IAF or at off-peak alpha frequencies (IAF±2 Hz). Compared to IAF tACS, IAF-2 Hz and IAF+2 Hz tACS, respectively, enlarged and shrunk the temporal window of illusion, suggesting that alpha oscillations might represent the temporal unit of visual processing that cyclically gates perception and the neurophysiological substrate promoting audio-visual interactions.

Type: Article
Title: Individual differences in alpha frequency drive crossmodal illusory perception
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.11.034
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.11.034
Additional information: This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1465254
Downloads since deposit
205Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item