EEG power in alpha and gamma bands follows the temporal profile of audiovisual stimuli
Sonja Schall, Cliodhna Quigley, Selim Onat, Peter König
Poster
Last modified: 2008-05-13
Abstract
The temporal dynamics of input from different modalities provide important cues for the unified perception of multisensory events. Evidence from cat visual cortex indicates that LFP power locks to the temporal profile of visual stimuli. Does stimulus locking also occur in the human brain? How might multisensory processes profit from such a mechanism? To answer these questions, we employed dynamic, audiovisual stimuli consisting of a rotating Gabor patch and frequency-modulated tone that changed smoothly over time. EEG was recorded while bimodal stimuli were shown to human subjects in congruent (matching temporal profiles) and incongruent (temporally differing) conditions, and unimodal counterparts were also presented. To quantify stimulus locking we computed cross-correlations between induced EEG power over a trial, and the corresponding speed of stimulus modulation. At occipital sites, we found that the change in speed of the visual stimulus induces an analogous change in EEG power. In the low gamma band, a positive correlation was found, while the alpha and beta ranges showed an anticorrelation. Interestingly, these effects differed across congruent and incongruent conditions, suggesting distinct roles for alpha and low gamma oscillations in the processing of dynamical multisensory events.