Rhythmic Gamma Stimulation Affects Bistable Perception

When our brain is confronted with ambiguous visual stimuli, perception spontaneously alternates between different possible interpretations although the physical stimulus remains the same. Both alpha (8–12 Hz) and gamma (>30 Hz) oscillations have been reported to correlate with such spontaneous pe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cognitive neuroscience 2015-07, Vol.27 (7), p.1298-1307
Main Authors: Cabral-Calderin, Yuranny, Schmidt-Samoa, Carsten, Wilke, Melanie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Alpha Rhythm - physiology
Brain
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Correlation analysis
Electroencephalography
Female
Gamma Rhythm - physiology
Humans
Male
Neuropsychological Tests
Neurosciences
Photic Stimulation - methods
Sensory perception
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
Visual Perception - physiology
Visualization
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Summary:When our brain is confronted with ambiguous visual stimuli, perception spontaneously alternates between different possible interpretations although the physical stimulus remains the same. Both alpha (8–12 Hz) and gamma (>30 Hz) oscillations have been reported to correlate with such spontaneous perceptual reversals. However, whether these oscillations play a causal role in triggering perceptual switches remains unknown. To address this question, we applied transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) over the posterior cortex of healthy human participants to boost alpha and gamma oscillations. At the same time, participants were reporting their percepts of an ambiguous structure-from-motion stimulus. We found that tACS in the gamma band (60 Hz) increased the number of spontaneous perceptual reversals, whereas no significant effect was found for tACS in alpha (10 Hz) and higher gamma (80 Hz) frequencies. Our results suggest a mechanistic role of gamma but not alpha oscillations in the resolution of perceptual ambiguity.
ISSN:0898-929X
1530-8898
DOI:10.1162/jocn_a_00781