University of Nebraska Medical Center.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2019 Sep;31(9):1392-1403. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01422. Epub 2019 May 6.
Numerous studies have linked alpha frequency (∼10 Hz) visual entrainment to the inhibition of incoming visual information. However, although these studies have provided key evidence for the intrinsic sensitivity of the human brain to incoming alpha frequency signals, they have only examined the negative impact of alpha entrainment on target stimuli. Thus, it remains uncertain whether the perception of distracting or nonimperative stimuli can also be affected by alpha frequency entrainment. In the current study, we address this question using an adapted version of the arrow-based Erikson "flanker" paradigm that incorporates stimuli flickering at two distinct frequencies: 10 Hz (alpha) and 30 Hz. By presenting flickering stimuli in the portions of the visual field where the flanking arrows would soon appear, we aimed to determine whether the frequency of visual entrainment (i.e., 10 Hz vs. 30 Hz) significantly interacted with the congruency of the flanking arrows (representing selective attention processing) using behavioral task performance and neural oscillations as the outcome metrics. Twenty-three healthy adult participants underwent magnetoencephalography during performance of the task. Our results indicated a reduced congruency effect (i.e., a smaller difference between congruent and incongruent trials) in the alpha flicker condition, as compared with the 30-Hz flicker condition, which suggests a robust relationship between alpha entrainment and the active inhibition of distractor stimuli appearing in that portion of the visual field. Supporting this, alpha frequency (but not 30 Hz) entrainment responses in the primary visual cortex also covaried significantly with the behavioral congruency effect.
许多研究已经将α 频率（~10 Hz）视觉诱发与传入视觉信息的抑制联系起来。然而，尽管这些研究为大脑对传入的α 频率信号的固有敏感性提供了关键证据，但它们只检查了α 诱发对目标刺激的负面影响。因此，尚不确定分散注意力或非强制性刺激的感知是否也会受到α 频率诱发的影响。在当前的研究中，我们使用基于箭头的埃里克森“侧翼”范式的改编版本来解决这个问题，该范式结合了以两种不同频率闪烁的刺激：10 Hz（α）和 30 Hz。通过在侧翼箭头即将出现的视野部分呈现闪烁的刺激，我们旨在确定视觉诱发的频率（即 10 Hz 与 30 Hz）是否与侧翼箭头的一致性（代表选择性注意处理）显著相互作用，使用行为任务表现和神经振荡作为结果指标。23 名健康成年参与者在执行任务期间接受了脑磁图检查。我们的结果表明，与 30 Hz 闪烁条件相比，α 闪烁条件下的一致性效应（即，一致和不一致试验之间的差异较小）降低，这表明α 诱发与出现在该视野部分的干扰刺激的主动抑制之间存在很强的关系。支持这一点，初级视觉皮层中的α 频率（但不是 30 Hz）诱发反应与行为一致性效应也显著相关。
