title: Arrhythmic activity in the left frontal eye field facilitates conscious visual perception in humans.
abstract: The frontal eye field (FEF) is a brain region involved in several processes relevant for visual performance, including visuo-spatial attention, conscious access and decision-making. Prior research has causally demonstrated that high-beta FEF activity in the right hemisphere enhances conscious visual perception, an outcome that is in agreement with evidence of neural synchronization along a right dorsal fronto-parietal network during attentional orienting and a right-hemisphere dominance for visuospatial processing. Nonetheless, frontal regions in the left hemisphere have also been shown to modulate perceptual performance. To causally explore the neural basis of these modulations, we delivered high-beta frequency-specific bursts of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to the left FEF and report that, in this region, these patterns failed to modulate conscious perception. In contrast, non-frequency-specific TMS patterns yielded visual performance improvements similar to those formerly causally associated to the induction of high-beta activity on its right-hemisphere homotopic area. This noise-induced facilitation of conscious vision suggests a relevant role of the left frontal cortex in visual perception. Furthermore, taken together with prior causal right-FEF evidence, our study indicates that frontal regions of each hemisphere employ different coding strategies to modulate conscious perception.
authors.affiliation: Université Pierre et Marie Curie, CNRS UMR 7225-INSERM UMRS S975, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et la Moelle (ICM), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chanes
authors.affiliation: Université Pierre et Marie Curie, CNRS UMR 7225-INSERM UMRS S975, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et la Moelle (ICM), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quentin
authors.affiliation: Université Pierre et Marie Curie, CNRS UMR 7225-INSERM UMRS S975, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et la Moelle (ICM), Paris, France.
authors.forename: Marine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vernet
authors.affiliation: Université Pierre et Marie Curie, CNRS UMR 7225-INSERM UMRS S975, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et la Moelle (ICM), Paris, France; Laboratory for Cerebral Dynamics Plasticity & Rehabilitation, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Cognitive Neuroscience and Information Technology Research Program, Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: avalerocabre@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valero-Cabré
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001611:Beta Rhythm; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Frontal oscillations; Interhemispheric differences; Left frontal eye field; Neural coding strategies; Noise; Rhythmic frontal activity; Rhythmic noninvasive brain stimulation; Synchrony; Visual performance