Relationship between the amplitude of &agr; waves and reaction time

The amplitude of &agr; waves in an ongoing electroencephalogram can be reduced by visual stimuli and by attention. We reduced &agr; amplitudes by presenting a short visual stimulus in the visual periphery, 10° apart from the fovea, and measured (i) the decrease of &agr; amplitudes as a function of time and (ii) delays in reaction to foveal stimuli presented at various intervals after the peripheral stimulus. It turned out that in the time window from 0 to 2 s after the peripheral stimulus, both responses decrease in parallel with a minimum at 350–500 ms. The close correspondence between &agr; amplitude and reaction time supports the view that &agr; waves are functionally relevant for this behaviour.

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