High-Gamma oscillations in the SLF I network predict conscious perception of attended visual targets

Poster Session F - Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC
Also presenting in Data Blitz Session 1 - Saturday, April 13, 2024, 1:00 – 2:30 pm EDT, Ballroom East.

Dr. Alfredo Spagna¹ (as5559@columbia.edu), Dr. Jianghao Liu², Dr. Paolo Bartolomeo²; ¹Department of Psychology, Columbia University, ²Sorbonne Université, Institut du Cerveau - Paris Brain Institute - ICM, Inserm, CNRS, AP-HP, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France

Introduction. “Look over there” is a common phrase we have all heard in our life. But how does brain responses to a cue help conscious perception of an impending target? Here, we studied how brain oscillations observed following the presentation of predictive peripheral cues benefit conscious perception. Method. Fourteen participants completed a task with spatially predictive supra-threshold peripheral cues (50 ms) preceding by 250 ms the presentation of near-threshold Gabor targets (16 ms). Performance differences in consciously perceived targets between validly cued (same side) and invalidly cued (opposite side) trials were analyzed via a Conscious Reports (Seen, Unseen) x Validity (Valid, Invalid) ANOVA. MEG recordings during the cue-target period underwent time-frequency decomposition analyses to explore the Validity by Conscious Reports interaction. Oscillatory patterns within regions of interest in the Superior Longitudinal Fasciculi (SLF) were submitted to nonparametric testing. Results. The greater discrimination accuracy for seen compared unseen targets (p<.0001) was associated with increased gamma oscillations (~60 Hz) during the cue-target period (~158 ms post-cue) in the right superior frontal gyrus, a node of the SLF I network. Further, high-gamma oscillations in both the superior frontal and superior parietal nodes of the right SLF I, as well as their coherence, were greater for seen compared to unseen trials for valid but not for invalid trials. Discussion. Our results indicate that the high-gamma oscillatory activity within the right SLF I plays a crucial role in guiding attention during the cue-target period.

Topic Area: ATTENTION: Spatial