Joliot M, Ribary U, Llinás R
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, New York University Medical Center, New York 10016.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994 Nov 22;91(24):11748-51. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.24.11748.
Spontaneous oscillatory electrical activity at a frequency near 40 Hz in the human brain and its reset by sensory stimulation have been proposed to be related to cognitive processing and to the temporal binding of sensory stimuli. These experiments were designed to test this hypothesis and to determine specifically whether the minimal interval required to identify separate auditory stimuli correlates with the reset of the 40-Hz magnetic signal. Auditory clicks were presented at varying times, while magnetic activity was recorded from awake human subjects. Experimental and modeling results indicate a stimulus-interval-dependent response with a critical interval of 12-15 ms. At shorter intervals only one 40-Hz response, to the first stimulus, was observed. With longer intervals, a second 40-Hz wave abruptly appeared, which coincided with the subject's perception of a second distinct auditory stimulus. These results indicate that oscillatory activity near 40 Hz represents a neurophysiological correlate to the temporal processing of auditory stimuli. It also supports the view that 40-Hz activity not only relates to primary sensory processing, but also could reflect the temporal binding underlying cognition.
人类大脑中频率接近40赫兹的自发振荡电活动及其通过感觉刺激的重置，被认为与认知加工以及感觉刺激的时间绑定有关。这些实验旨在检验这一假设，并具体确定识别不同听觉刺激所需的最短间隔是否与40赫兹磁信号的重置相关。在不同时间呈现听觉咔嗒声，同时记录清醒人类受试者的磁活动。实验和建模结果表明，存在一种依赖于刺激间隔的反应，其临界间隔为12 - 15毫秒。在较短间隔时，仅观察到对第一个刺激的一个40赫兹反应。间隔较长时，第二个40赫兹波突然出现，这与受试者对第二个不同听觉刺激的感知相吻合。这些结果表明，接近40赫兹的振荡活动代表了听觉刺激时间加工的神经生理相关物。这也支持了这样一种观点，即40赫兹活动不仅与初级感觉加工有关，还可能反映认知背后的时间绑定。
