Temporal cuing modulates alpha oscillations during auditory attentional blink

Attentional blink (AB) refers to the phenomenon whereby the correct identification of a visual or auditory target impairs processing of a subsequent probe. Although it has been shown that knowing in advance, when the probe would be presented, reduces the attentional blink and increases the amplitude of event‐related potential (ERP) elicited by the probe, the neural mechanism by which attention mitigates the AB remains unclear. Here, we used time‐frequency analysis to further explore the mechanism of the auditory attentional blink. Participants were presented a series of rapid auditory stimuli and asked to indicate whether a target and a probe were present in the sequence. In half of the trials, participants were cued to the probe position relative to the target (‘Early’ or ‘Late’). Probe detection and ERP amplitude elicited by the probe decreased when the probe was presented shortly after the target compared to when it was presented later after the target. Importantly, the behavioral and ERP correlates of probe discrimination significantly improved when the ‘Early’ cue was presented. The improvement in processing the probe in the cued condition was accompanied by the decrease in alpha activity (8–13 Hz) after the time when the probe was expected; suggesting that successfully directing attention to time window where the probe would likely occur reduces the processing resources needed to suppress distractors. This in turn freed up available processing resources for the target and probe at the short‐term consolidation stage, which ultimately reduced the auditory attentional blink.

[1]  V. Lollo,et al.  Low-level masking in the attentional blink , 1997 .

[2]  John J. Foxe,et al.  Increases in alpha oscillatory power reflect an active retinotopic mechanism for distracter suppression during sustained visuospatial attention. , 2006, Journal of neurophysiology.

[3]  M. Potter,et al.  A two-stage model for multiple target detection in rapid serial visual presentation. , 1995, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[4]  H. Pincham,et al.  Target Cueing Provides Support for Target- and Resource-Based Models of the Attentional Blink , 2012, PloS one.

[5]  Mathias Benedek,et al.  Divergent thinking training is related to frontal electroencephalogram alpha synchronization , 2006, The European journal of neuroscience.

[6]  E. Vogel,et al.  Electrophysiological Evidence for a Postperceptual Locus of Suppression during the Attentional Blink Time-based Attention and the Attentional Blink , 1998 .

[7]  O. Bertrand,et al.  Oscillatory gamma activity in humans and its role in object representation , 1999, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[8]  T. Sejnowski,et al.  Removing electroencephalographic artifacts by blind source separation. , 2000, Psychophysiology.

[9]  John J. Foxe,et al.  The strength of anticipatory spatial biasing predicts target discrimination at attended locations: a high‐density EEG study , 2009, The European journal of neuroscience.

[10]  G. V. Simpson,et al.  Anticipatory Biasing of Visuospatial Attention Indexed by Retinotopically Specific α-Bank Electroencephalography Increases over Occipital Cortex , 2000, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[11]  F. L. D. Silva,et al.  Event-related EEG/MEG synchronization and desynchronization: basic principles , 1999, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[12]  Jonas Obleser,et al.  Cortical alpha oscillations as a tool for auditory selective inhibition , 2014, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[13]  Maren Grigutsch,et al.  EEG oscillations and wavelet analysis , 2005 .

[14]  Jonas Obleser,et al.  Synchronisation signatures in the listening brain: A perspective from non-invasive neuroelectrophysiology , 2014, Hearing Research.

[15]  Claude Alain,et al.  Temporal attention facilitates short-term consolidation during a rapid serial auditory presentation task , 2011, Experimental Brain Research.

[16]  K. Arnell,et al.  The attentional blink across stimulus modalities: Evidence for central processing limitations. , 1999 .

[17]  A. Treisman,et al.  Conjunction search revisited. , 1990, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[18]  Mary H. MacLean,et al.  Greater attentional blink magnitude is associated with higher levels of anticipatory attention as measured by alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD) , 2011, Brain Research.

[19]  Matti S. Hämäläinen,et al.  Dynamic Oscillatory Processes Governing Cued Orienting and Allocation of Auditory Attention , 2013, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[20]  Dawei Shen,et al.  Effect of distractor sounds on the auditory attentional blink , 2006, Perception & psychophysics.

[21]  Claude Alain,et al.  Neural Dynamics Underlying Attentional Orienting to Auditory Representations in Short-Term Memory , 2015, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[22]  O. Bertrand,et al.  Selective Modulation of Auditory Cortical Alpha Activity in an Audiovisual Spatial Attention Task , 2014, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[23]  John J. Foxe,et al.  Anticipatory Attentional Suppression of Visual Features Indexed by Oscillatory Alpha-Band Power Increases:A High-Density Electrical Mapping Study , 2010, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[24]  Alexander Maye,et al.  Temporal dynamics of access to consciousness in the attentional blink , 2007, NeuroImage.

[25]  C. Schroeder,et al.  Neuronal Mechanisms of Cortical Alpha Oscillations in Awake-Behaving Macaques , 2008, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[26]  Claude Alain,et al.  Implicit Temporal Expectation Attenuates Auditory Attentional Blink , 2012, PloS one.

[27]  Arnaud Delorme,et al.  EEGLAB: an open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics including independent component analysis , 2004, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[28]  O. Andreassen,et al.  Mice Deficient in Cellular Glutathione Peroxidase Show Increased Vulnerability to Malonate, 3-Nitropropionic Acid, and 1-Methyl-4-Phenyl-1,2,5,6-Tetrahydropyridine , 2000, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[29]  G. Thut,et al.  Mechanisms of selective inhibition in visual spatial attention are indexed by α‐band EEG synchronization , 2007, The European journal of neuroscience.

[30]  Stephen J. Anderson,et al.  Elsevier Editorial System(tm) for Brain Research Manuscript Draft Response Letter Reviewer Number 1 Attentional Changes in Pre-stimulus Oscillatory Activity within Early Visual Cortex Are Predictive of Human Visual Performance , 2007 .

[31]  Savio W. H. Wong,et al.  Altered dynamics between neural systems sub-serving decisions for unhealthy food , 2014, Front. Neurosci..

[32]  Xiaolin Zhou,et al.  Top-down control is not lost in the attentional blink: evidence from intact endogenous cuing , 2008, Experimental Brain Research.

[33]  Olivier Bertrand,et al.  Oscillatory alpha modulations in right auditory regions reflect the validity of acoustic cues in an auditory spatial attention task. , 2014, Cerebral cortex.

[34]  G. V. Simpson,et al.  Parieto‐occipital ∼1 0Hz activity reflects anticipatory state of visual attention mechanisms , 1998 .

[35]  S. Martens,et al.  Timing attention: Cuing target onset interval attenuates the attentional blink , 2005, Memory & cognition.

[36]  Mathias Benedek,et al.  Stimulating creativity via the exposure to other people's ideas , 2012, Human brain mapping.

[37]  Carlos M. Gómez,et al.  Wavelet analysis of the EEG during the neurocognitive evaluation of invalidly cued targets , 2008, Brain Research.

[38]  G. Pfurtscheller,et al.  Evaluation of event-related desynchronization (ERD) preceding and following voluntary self-paced movement. , 1979, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[39]  Mathias Benedek,et al.  To create or to recall? Neural mechanisms underlying the generation of creative new ideas☆ , 2014, NeuroImage.

[40]  John J. Foxe,et al.  Oscillatory Alpha-Band Mechanisms and the Deployment of Spatial Attention to Anticipated Auditory and Visual Target Locations: Supramodal or Sensory-Specific Control Mechanisms? , 2011, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[41]  Simon Hanslmayr,et al.  The role of alpha oscillations in temporal attention , 2011, Brain Research Reviews.

[42]  A. Nobre,et al.  Alpha Oscillations Related to Anticipatory Attention Follow Temporal Expectations , 2011, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[43]  Winfried Schlee,et al.  It's only in your head: Expectancy of aversive auditory stimulation modulates stimulus-induced auditory cortical alpha desynchronization , 2012, NeuroImage.

[44]  K L Shapiro,et al.  Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: an attentional blink? . , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[45]  Dawei Shen,et al.  Object file continuity and the auditory attentional blink , 2008, Perception & psychophysics.

[46]  John J. Foxe,et al.  Attention-dependent suppression of distracter visual input can be cross-modally cued as indexed by anticipatory parieto-occipital alpha-band oscillations. , 2001, Brain research. Cognitive brain research.

[47]  N. Hatsopoulos,et al.  Propagating waves mediate information transfer in the motor cortex , 2006, Nature Neuroscience.

[48]  R. Abrams,et al.  Endogenous orienting is reduced during the attentional blink , 2010, Experimental Brain Research.

[49]  Matthew F. Tang,et al.  Temporal cues and the attentional blink: A further examination of the role of expectancy in sequential object perception , 2014, Attention, perception & psychophysics.

[50]  Matti S. Hämäläinen,et al.  Lateralized parietotemporal oscillatory phase synchronization during auditory selective attention , 2014, NeuroImage.

[51]  Claude Alain,et al.  Neuroelectric correlates of auditory attentional blink. , 2010, Psychophysiology.