Modulation of late alpha band oscillations by feedback in a hypothesis testing paradigm.
We used the electroencephalogram (EEG) to investigate whether positive and negative performance feedbacks differentially modulate late time-locked oscillatory brain activity in hypothesis testing. Ten college students serially tested hypotheses concerning a hidden rule by judging its presence or absence in triplets of digits, and revised them on the basis of an exogenous performance feedback. The EEG signal was convolved with a family of complex wavelets and induced brain potentials were extracted in the alpha range (8-13 Hz). The time-varying modulation of alpha activity time-locked to positive and negative feedback was analyzed in the 350-700 ms time-window. The results showed differential feedback-induced modulations of upper-alpha rhythms (> or =10 Hz) between 450 and 700 ms in parieto-occipital and central regions, and of lower-alpha rhythms (<10 Hz) between 350 and 450 ms in central regions. These results were interpreted in terms of differential functional roles of feedback in short-term memory and active inhibition/disinhibition of resources for subsequent hypothesis testing. Some implications for cognitive models of feedback are discussed.
Papo
David
D
Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS UMR 6146, Université de Provence, Marseille, France. david.papo@chups.jussieu.fr
Douiri
Abdel
A
Bouchet
Florence
F
Bourzeix
Jean-Claude
JC
Caverni
Jean-Paul
JP
Baudonnière
Pierre-Marie
PM
D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005246:Feedback / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors