| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
1 LENA CNRS UPR640, MEG–EEG Center Pitié-Salpétrière, Paris, France, 2 LPE CNRS UMR8581, Boulogne-Billancourt Cedex, France
Reprint requests should be sent to Juan R. Vidal, LENA CNRS UPR640, MEG–EEG Center Pitié-Salpétrière, 47 Bd de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France, or via e-mail: juan.vidal{at}chups.jussieu.fr.
Neural oscillatory synchrony could implement grouping processes, act as an attentional filter, or foster the storage of information in short-term memory. Do these findings indicate that oscillatory synchrony is an unspecific epiphenomenon occurring in any demanding task, or that oscillatory synchrony is a fundamental mechanism involved whenever neural cooperation is requested? If the latter hypothesis is true, then oscillatory synchrony should be specific, with distinct visual processes eliciting different types of oscillations. We recorded magnetoencephalogram (MEG) signals while manipulating the grouping properties of a visual display on the one hand, and the focusing of attention to memorize part of this display on the other hand. Grouping-related gamma oscillations were present in all conditions but modulated by the grouping properties of the stimulus (one or two groups) in the high gamma-band (70–120 Hz) at central occipital locations. Attention-related gamma oscillations appeared as an additional component whenever attentional focusing was requested in the low gamma-band (44–66 Hz) at parietal locations. Our results thus reveal the existence of a functional specialization in the gamma range, with grouping-related oscillations showing up at higher frequencies than attention-related oscillations. The pattern of oscillatory synchrony is thus specific of the visual process it is associated with. Our results further suggest that both grouping processes and focused attention rely on a common implementation process, namely, gamma-band oscillatory synchrony, a finding that could account for the fact that coherent percepts are more likely to catch attention than incoherent ones.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  J. Kaiser, T. Heidegger, M. Wibral, C. F. Altmann, and W. Lutzenberger Distinct Gamma-Band Components Reflect the Short-Term Memory Maintenance of Different Sound Lateralization Angles Cereb Cortex, October 1, 2008; 18(10): 2286 - 2295. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. J. Uhlhaas, C. Haenschel, D. Nikolic, and W. Singer The Role of Oscillations and Synchrony in Cortical Networks and Their Putative Relevance for the Pathophysiology of Schizophrenia Schizophr Bull, September 1, 2008; 34(5): 927 - 943. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 V. Wyart and C. Tallon-Baudry Neural Dissociation between Visual Awareness and Spatial Attention J. Neurosci., March 5, 2008; 28(10): 2667 - 2679. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. C. Muresan, O. F. Jurjut, V. V. Moca, W. Singer, and D. Nikolic The Oscillation Score: An Efficient Method for Estimating Oscillation Strength in Neuronal Activity J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2008; 99(3): 1333 - 1353. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. M. Doesburg, A. B. Roggeveen, K. Kitajo, and L. M. Ward Large-Scale Gamma-Band Phase Synchronization and Selective Attention Cereb Cortex, February 1, 2008; 18(2): 386 - 396. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. N. Landau, M. Esterman, L. C. Robertson, S. Bentin, and W. Prinzmetal Different Effects of Voluntary and Involuntary Attention on EEG Activity in the Gamma Band J. Neurosci., October 31, 2007; 27(44): 11986 - 11990. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| NEURAL COMPUTATION | J COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE | MIT PRESS JOURNALS |
