title: Time courses of attentional modulation in neural amplification and synchronization measured with steady-state visual-evoked potentials.
abstract: Endogenous attention modulates the amplitude and phase coherence of steady-state visual-evoked potentials (SSVEPs). In efforts to decipher the neural mechanisms of attentional modulation, we compared the time course of attentional modulation of SSVEP amplitude (thought to reflect the magnitude of neural population activity) and phase coherence (thought to reflect neural response synchronization). We presented two stimuli flickering at different frequencies in the left and right visual hemifields and asked observers to shift their attention to either stimulus. Our results demonstrated that attention increased SSVEP phase coherence earlier than it increased SSVEP amplitude, with a positive correlation between the attentional modulations of SSVEP phase coherence and amplitude. Furthermore, the behavioral dynamics of attention shifts were more closely associated with changes in phase coherence than with changes in amplitude. These results are consistent with the possibility that attention increases neural response synchronization, which in turn leads to increased neural population activity.
authors.affiliation: Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. yoshi-k@riec.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kashiwase
authors.forename: Kazumichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsumiya
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kuriki
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shioiri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004585:Electrooculography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult