Elsevier

NeuroImage

Volume 59, Issue 4, 15 February 2012, Pages 3379-3388
NeuroImage

Evoked traveling alpha waves predict visual-semantic categorization-speed

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.11.010Get rights and content
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Abstract

In the present study we have tested the hypothesis that evoked traveling alpha waves are behaviorally significant. The results of a visual-semantic categorization task show that three early ERP components including the P1–N1 complex had a dominant frequency characteristic in the alpha range and behaved like traveling waves do. They exhibited a traveling direction from midline occipital to right lateral parietal sites. Phase analyses revealed that this traveling behavior of ERP components could be explained by phase-delays in the alpha but not theta and beta frequency range. Most importantly, we found that the speed of the traveling alpha wave was significantly and negatively correlated with reaction time indicating that slow traveling speed was associated with fast picture-categorization. We conclude that evoked alpha oscillations are functionally associated with early access to visual-semantic information and generate – or at least modulate – the early waveforms of the visual ERP.

Highlights

► The speed of traveling alpha waves predicts semantic categorization-speed. ► Early visual ERPs behave like traveling alpha waves. ► Evoked alpha modulates early components of the visual ERP.

Abbreviations

SOT
stimulus onset time
FOI
frequency of interest

Keywords

P1
Evoked alpha
Traveling-waves
Categorization-speed

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