title: Interregional alpha-band synchrony supports temporal cross-modal integration.
abstract: In a continuously changing environment, time is a key property that tells us whether information from the different senses belongs together. Yet, little is known about how the brain integrates temporal information across sensory modalities. Using high-density EEG combined with a novel psychometric timing task in which human subjects evaluated durations of audiovisual stimuli, we show that the strength of alpha-band (8-12 Hz) phase synchrony between localizer-defined auditory and visual regions depended on cross-modal attention: during encoding of a constant 500 ms standard interval, audiovisual alpha synchrony decreased when subjects attended audition while ignoring vision, compared to when they attended both modalities. In addition, alpha connectivity during a variable target interval predicted the degree to which auditory stimulus duration biased time estimation while attending vision. This cross-modal interference effect was estimated using a hierarchical Bayesian model of a psychometric function that also provided an estimate of each individual's tendency to exhibit attention lapses. This lapse rate, in turn, was predicted by single-trial estimates of the stability of interregional alpha synchrony: when attending to both modalities, trials with greater stability in patterns of connectivity were characterized by reduced contamination by lapses. Together, these results provide new insights into a functional role of the coupling of alpha phase dynamics between sensory cortices in integrating cross-modal information over time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; The Amsterdam Brain and Cognition Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: j.vandriel@uva.nl.
authors.forename: Joram
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Driel
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Knapen
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: van Es
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Michael X
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011601:Psychophysics / Q000379:methods; D066191:Sensorimotor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Alpha-band; Cross-modal integration; Functional connectivity; Phase synchrony; Time perception