Dataset Information

Alpha-band EEG activity in perceptual learning.

ABSTRACT: In studies of perceptual learning (PL), subjects are typically highly trained across many sessions to achieve perceptual benefits on the stimuli in those tasks. There is currently significant debate regarding what sources of brain plasticity underlie these PL-based learning improvements. Here we investigate the hypothesis that PL, among other mechanisms, leads to task automaticity, especially in the presence of the trained stimuli. To investigate this hypothesis, we trained participants for eight sessions to find an oriented target in a field of near-oriented distractors and examined alpha-band activity, which modulates with attention to visual stimuli, as a possible measure of automaticity. Alpha-band activity was acquired via electroencephalogram (EEG), before and after training, as participants performed the task with trained and untrained stimuli. Results show that participants underwent significant learning in this task (as assessed by threshold, accuracy, and reaction time improvements) and that alpha power increased during the pre-stimulus period and then underwent greater desynchronization at the time of stimulus presentation following training. However, these changes in alpha-band activity were not specific to the trained stimuli, with similar patterns of posttraining alpha power for trained and untrained stimuli. These data are consistent with the view that participants were more efficient at focusing resources at the time of stimulus presentation and are consistent with a greater automaticity of task performance. These findings have implications for PL, as transfer effects from trained to untrained stimuli may partially depend on differential effort of the individual at the time of stimulus processing.

SUBMITTER: Bays BC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4570730 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Alpha-band EEG activity in perceptual learning.

Bays Brett C BC Visscher Kristina M KM Le Dantec Christophe C CC Seitz Aaron R AR

Journal of vision 20150101 10

In studies of perceptual learning (PL), subjects are typically highly trained across many sessions to achieve perceptual benefits on the stimuli in those tasks. There is currently significant debate regarding what sources of brain plasticity underlie these PL-based learning improvements. Here we investigate the hypothesis that PL, among other mechanisms, leads to task automaticity, especially in the presence of the trained stimuli. To investigate this hypothesis, we trained participants for eigh ...[more]

PMID: 26370167

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Project description:Simultaneous resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI)-resting state electroencephalography (rsEEG) studies in healthy adults showed robust positive associations of signal power in the alpha band with BOLD signal in the thalamus, and more heterogeneous associations in cortical default mode network (DMN) regions. Negative associations were found in occipital regions. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), rsfMRI studies revealed a disruption of the DMN, while rsEEG studies consistently reported a reduced power within the alpha band. The present study is the first to employ simultaneous rsfMRI-rsEEG in an AD sample, investigating the association of alpha band power and BOLD signal, compared to healthy controls (HC). We hypothesized to find reduced positive associations in DMN regions and reduced negative associations in occipital regions in the AD group. Simultaneous resting state fMRI-EEG was recorded in 14 patients with mild AD and 14 HC, matched for age and gender. Power within the EEG alpha band (8-12 Hz, 8-10 Hz, and 10-12 Hz) was computed from occipital electrodes and served as regressor in voxel-wise linear regression analyses, to assess the association with the BOLD signal. Compared to HC, the AD group showed significantly decreased positive associations between BOLD signal and occipital alpha band power in clusters in the superior, middle and inferior frontal cortex, inferior temporal lobe and thalamus (p < 0.01, uncorr., cluster size ≥ 50 voxels). This group effect was more pronounced in the upper alpha sub-band, compared to the lower alpha sub-band. Notably, we observed a high inter-individual heterogeneity. Negative associations were only reduced in the lower alpha range in the hippocampus, putamen and cerebellum. The present study gives first insights into the relationship of resting-state EEG and fMRI characteristics in an AD sample. The results suggest that positive associations between alpha band power and BOLD signal in numerous regions, including DMN regions, are diminished in AD.

Dataset Information

Alpha-band EEG activity in perceptual learning.

Publications

Alpha-band EEG activity in perceptual learning.

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