title: Neuro-oscillatory phase alignment drives speeded multisensory response times: an electro-corticographic investigation.
abstract: Even simple tasks rely on information exchange between functionally distinct and often relatively distant neuronal ensembles. Considerable work indicates oscillatory synchronization through phase alignment is a major agent of inter-regional communication. In the brain, different oscillatory phases correspond to low- and high-excitability states. Optimally aligned phases (or high-excitability states) promote inter-regional communication. Studies have also shown that sensory stimulation can modulate or reset the phase of ongoing cortical oscillations. For example, auditory stimuli can reset the phase of oscillations in visual cortex, influencing processing of a simultaneous visual stimulus. Such cross-regional phase reset represents a candidate mechanism for aligning oscillatory phase for inter-regional communication. Here, we explored the role of local and inter-regional phase alignment in driving a well established behavioral correlate of multisensory integration: the redundant target effect (RTE), which refers to the fact that responses to multisensory inputs are substantially faster than to unisensory stimuli. In a speeded detection task, human epileptic patients (N = 3) responded to unisensory (auditory or visual) and multisensory (audiovisual) stimuli with a button press, while electrocorticography was recorded over auditory and motor regions. Visual stimulation significantly modulated auditory activity via phase reset in the delta and theta bands. During the period between stimulation and subsequent motor response, transient synchronization between auditory and motor regions was observed. Phase synchrony to multisensory inputs was faster than to unisensory stimulation. This sensorimotor phase alignment correlated with behavior such that stronger synchrony was associated with faster responses, linking the commonly observed RTE with phase alignment across a sensorimotor network.
authors.affiliation: The Sheryl and Daniel R. Tishman Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC), Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine & Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York 10461, The Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Rose F. Kennedy Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Rose F. Kennedy Center, Bronx, New York 10461, manuel.mercier@a3.epfl.ch john.foxe@einstein.yu.edu.
authors.forename: Manuel R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Mercier
authors.affiliation: The Sheryl and Daniel R. Tishman Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC), Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine & Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York 10461, The Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Rose F. Kennedy Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Rose F. Kennedy Center, Bronx, New York 10461.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Molholm
authors.affiliation: The Sheryl and Daniel R. Tishman Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC), Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine & Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York 10461, Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544.
authors.forename: Ian C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Fiebelkorn
authors.affiliation: The Sheryl and Daniel R. Tishman Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC), Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine & Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York 10461, Trinity Centre for Bioengineering, Trinity Biomedical Science Institute, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.
authors.forename: John S
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5567-8634
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York 10021, and.
authors.forename: Theodore H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.affiliation: The Sheryl and Daniel R. Tishman Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC), Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine & Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York 10461, The Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Rose F. Kennedy Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Rose F. Kennedy Center, Bronx, New York 10461, The Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, New York 10962 manuel.mercier@a3.epfl.ch john.foxe@einstein.yu.edu.
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Foxe
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000473:pathology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: ECoG; EEG; motor; multisensory; oscillations; synchrony