10 Hz rhythmic stimulation modulates electrophysiological, but not behavioral markers of suppression

Autor(en)
Bence Szaszkó, Martin Habeler, Marlene Forstinger, Ulrich Pomper, Manuel Scheftner, Moritz Stolte, Markus Grüner, Ulrich Ansorge
Abstrakt

We investigated the role of alpha in the suppression of attention capture by salient but to-be-suppressed (negative and nonpredictive) color cues, expecting a potential boosting effect of alpha-rhythmic entrainment on feature-specific cue suppression. We did so by presenting a rhythmically flickering visual bar of 10 Hz before the cue - either on the cue's side or opposite the cue -while an arrhythmically flickering visual bar was presented on the respective other side. We hypothesized that rhythmic entrainment at cue location could enhance the suppression of the cue. Testing 27 participants ranging from 18 to 39 years of age, we found both behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of suppression: Search times for a target at a negatively cued location were delayed relative to a target away from the cued location (inverse validity effects). In addition, an event-related potential indicative for suppression (the Distractor Positivity, Pd) was observed following rhythmic but not arrhythmic stimulation, indicating that suppression was boosted by the stimulation. This was also echoed in higher spectral power and intertrial phase coherence of EEG at rhythmically versus arrhythmically stimulated electrode sites, albeit only at the second harmonic (20 Hz), but not at the stimulation frequency. In addition, inverse validity effects were not modulated by rhythmic entrainment congruent with the cue side. Hence, we propose that rhythmic visual stimulation in the alpha range could support suppression, though behavioral evidence remains elusive, in contrast to electrophysiological findings.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Psychologie der Kognition, Emotion und Methoden, Forschungsverbund Kognitionswissenschaft, Forschungsplattform Mediatisierte Lebenswelten: Die narrativen Konstruktionen, Verbindungen und Aneignungen Jugendlicher
Journal
Frontiers in Psychology
Band
15
ISSN
1664-1078
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1376664
Publikationsdatum
2024
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
501011 Kognitionspsychologie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Psychology(all)
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/10-hz-rhythmic-stimulation-modulates-electrophysiological-but-not-behavioral-markers-of-suppression(61af969c-0415-4cf0-9bca-35d243d351e2).html