title: Dissociation of reversal- and motor-related delta- and alpha-band responses during visual multistable perception.
abstract: Multistable visual perception refers to phenomena, in which one invariant stimulus pattern is perceived in at least two different, mutually exclusive ways. In this EEG study we differentiate between perceptual- and motor-related processes during perceptual reversals. Delta- and alpha-band activity was analyzed while participants answered to a perceptual reversal either immediately or with a delay of approximately 1500 ms, thereby separating reversal-related and motor-related activity. On the single sweep level a reversal-related positive delta response and reversal-related desynchronisation of alpha activity could be detected irrespective of the motor response. Both conditions elicited the strongest reversal-related modulations at posterior locations. Contrary, motor-related responses were found predominantly at central locations. These findings were supported by a control experiment, using a slightly modified stimulus that allowed unambiguous perceptual changes to be triggered exogenously. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the brain response to perceptual reversals differs from motor-related processes elicited by the button press indicating the perceptual reversal. The results of this study, therefore, indicate that perceptual- and motor-related processes are achieved in multiple selectively distributed and parallel working oscillatory networks of the brain.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology and Cognition Research, University of Bremen, Grazer Str. 4, D-28359 Bremen, Germany. birgit.mathes@uni-bremen.de
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mathes
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Pomper
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Walla
authors.forename: Canan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Basar-Eroglu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D003700:Delta Rhythm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult