EEG gamma-band activity in rapid serial visual presentation

TY - JOUR

T1 - EEG gamma-band activity in rapid serial visual presentation

AU - Kranczioch, Cornelia

AU - Debener, Stefan

AU - Herrmann, Christoph S

AU - Engel, Andreas K

PY - 2006/2/1

Y1 - 2006/2/1

N2 - Evidence is available that oscillatory activity in the gamma frequency range (>30 Hz) might be related to the attentional selection of target items. Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigms are instrumental in addressing cognitive functions such as visual attention, and they are increasingly combined with the measurement of electrical brain activity. In the present study, gamma-band responses for target and standard stimuli were investigated in an RSVP oddball paradigm. In a first study, stimuli were presented at a frequency of 10 Hz, the stimulus sequence consisted of rare colored letters (targets) and frequent black letters (standards). In addition, stimulus size was varied across experimental blocks. Significant target modulations were observed for the P3 ERP and induced (i.e., not phase-locked) gamma-band responses. Besides this late activation, no further gamma-band responses were observed. A second study aimed at replicating these findings by employing a reduced stimulus presentation rate of 7.1 Hz. Again, besides the P3 ERP a late increase in induced gamma-band activity was observed. However, as compared to Study 1, this induced response was less pronounced. The induced gamma-band response observed in the present studies might reflect utilization of information derived from previous processing steps for behavioral performance or memory storage as suggested in the 'match-and-utilization-model' of gamma activity.

AB - Evidence is available that oscillatory activity in the gamma frequency range (>30 Hz) might be related to the attentional selection of target items. Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigms are instrumental in addressing cognitive functions such as visual attention, and they are increasingly combined with the measurement of electrical brain activity. In the present study, gamma-band responses for target and standard stimuli were investigated in an RSVP oddball paradigm. In a first study, stimuli were presented at a frequency of 10 Hz, the stimulus sequence consisted of rare colored letters (targets) and frequent black letters (standards). In addition, stimulus size was varied across experimental blocks. Significant target modulations were observed for the P3 ERP and induced (i.e., not phase-locked) gamma-band responses. Besides this late activation, no further gamma-band responses were observed. A second study aimed at replicating these findings by employing a reduced stimulus presentation rate of 7.1 Hz. Again, besides the P3 ERP a late increase in induced gamma-band activity was observed. However, as compared to Study 1, this induced response was less pronounced. The induced gamma-band response observed in the present studies might reflect utilization of information derived from previous processing steps for behavioral performance or memory storage as suggested in the 'match-and-utilization-model' of gamma activity.

KW - Adult

KW - Analysis of Variance

KW - Brain

KW - Brain Mapping

KW - Color Perception

KW - Electroencephalography

KW - Event-Related Potentials, P300

KW - Evoked Potentials, Visual

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Oscillometry

KW - Pattern Recognition, Visual

KW - Photic Stimulation

KW - Reaction Time

KW - Time Factors

U2 - 10.1007/s00221-005-0139-2

DO - 10.1007/s00221-005-0139-2

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 16328311

VL - 169

SP - 246

EP - 254

JO - EXP BRAIN RES

JF - EXP BRAIN RES

SN - 0014-4819

IS - 2

ER -