Can oscillation entrainment and attention improve visual perception?

神经元活动的周期性波动，即振荡，在视觉感知中具有功能作用，这是 通过隐蔽注意力(我们有选择地在视觉场景中的一个位置处理信息的能力)得到改进 没有眼球运动)。振荡的大脑活动与视觉空间注意的投入和 影响健康观察者的表现。在神经科患者中，下列异常振荡活动 脑损伤伴随着视觉损伤。然而，还没有研究系统地操纵这两种疾病。 生理振荡活动，或其与隐蔽注意力的相互作用，以改善健康成年人的视觉表现， 使用经颅磁刺激(TMS)；一种公认的、局部和非侵入性的脑刺激 技术。这一知识对改善健康人类观察者和康复者的知觉功能非常重要。 这是病人的错误感知。对于健康的观察者，我们将使用TMS节奏模式来牵连当地 单独和/或与注意力结合的特定皮质部位的振荡活动。我们将评估是否 振荡活动的夹带(即，相位对准和增加的功率)促进了对比度敏感性。 TY-一个基本的、众所周知的视觉维度，决定了能见度窗口，它增加了 请注意。在目标1中，我们将测试针对振荡定制的有节奏的TMS提高视觉性能的能力， 并记录其时频特征。我们将应用短暂的节律性主动TMS或节律性假(非 磁安慰剂)在阿尔法-10赫兹和贝塔-30赫兹频率刺激，在刺激开始时到两个皮质 参与知觉和注意力调节的区域：右枕叶(V1)和额叶(FEF)。我们 通过控制显示和TMS猝发之间的间隔来探索相位的影响。同时操纵- 在后期，我们将比较(A)节律活动与随机活动TM(相同脉冲数)的影响 和持续时间)；(B)节律性假刺激与随机假刺激；(C)节律性活动TM与节律性假刺激 模拟；(D)随机活动TMS与随机假刺激，关于阈值和渐近性能 评估对比度增益和/或响应增益的变化。在目标2中，我们将专注于最有效的核心- 在目标1中发现的临界位置-频率-相位模式组合，通过影响和持续时间的大小进行评估 观察者之间的一致性，以测试隐性注意力是否可以增强这种影响。我们会操纵前- 本源性(无意识的、反身性的)注意，对认知要求不高，且有良好的特点 心理物理学、神经成像和电生理学。通过同时进行TMS-EEG记录 当观察者执行辨别任务时，我们将增加对大脑如何处理的理解 视觉信息，神经活动的夹带如何与知觉改善相关，以及如何覆盖- ERT注意影响视觉加工的空间和时间方面。此外，这项提案将调查 无创神经刺激结合注意手法诱发脑震荡的可行性 健康观察者的活动和改善视觉功能，以及在未来，恢复患者的视力。

Periodic fluctuations of neuronal activity, i.e. oscillations, have a functional role in visual perception, which is improved by covert attention (our ability to selectively process information at one location in the visual scene without eye movements). Oscillatory brain activity correlates with the engagement of visuospatial attention and influences performance in healthy observers. In neurological patients, abnormal oscillatory activity following brain damage accompanies visual impairments. However, no study has systematically manipulated either cor- tical oscillatory activity, or its interaction with covert attention, to improve visual performance in healthy adults, using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS); a well-established, focal and non-invasive brain stimulation technique. This knowledge is important to improve perceptual function in healthy human observers and rehabil- itate faulty perception in patients. With healthy observers, we will use TMS rhythmic patterns to entrain local oscillatory activity in specific cortical sites alone and/or in combination with attention. We will assess whether the entrainment of oscillatory activity (i.e., phase alignment and increased power) facilitates contrast sensitivi- ty–a fundamental, well-understood visual dimension determining the window of visibility, which is increased by attention. In Aim 1, we will test the ability of oscillation-tailored rhythmic TMS to improve visual performance, and record its time-frequency signature. We will apply either brief rhythmic active TMS or rhythmic sham (non- magnetic placebo) stimulation at the Alpha–10Hz and Beta–30Hz frequencies, at stimulus onset to two cortical areas involved in the modulation of perception and attention: right occipital (V1) and frontal (FEF) sites. We explore the effect of phase by manipulating the interval between display and TMS burst onsets. While manipu- lating phase, we will compare the impact of (a) rhythmic active vs. random active TMS (same pulse number and duration); (b) rhythmic sham vs. random sham stimulation; (c) rhythmic active TMS vs. rhythmic sham sti- mulation; (d) random active TMS vs. random sham stimulation, on threshold and asymptotic performance to assess changes in contrast gain and/or response gain. In Aim 2, we will concentrate on the most effective cor- tical site-frequency-phase pattern combination found in Aim 1, as assessed by the size of the effects and con- sistency across observers, to test whether covert attention can potentiate such effects. We will manipulate ex- ogenous (involuntary, reflexive) attention, which is not cognitively demanding and has been well-characterized with psychophysics, neuroimaging and electrophysiology. By conducting concurrent TMS-EEG recordings while observers perform a discrimination task, we will increase our understanding of how the brain processes visual information, how the entrainment of neural activity is related to perceptual improvements, and how cov- ert attention affects spatial and temporal aspects of visual processing. In addition, this proposal will probe the feasibility of non-invasive neurostimulation combined with attentional manipulations to entrain brain oscillatory activity and improve visual function in healthy observers, and, in the future, restore vision in patients.