2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience

13-16 September 2019    Berlin, Germany

Technical Program

Paper Detail

Paper: PS-1B.41
Session: Poster Session 1B
Location: H Fläche 1.OG
Session Time: Saturday, September 14, 16:30 - 19:30
Presentation Time:Saturday, September 14, 16:30 - 19:30
Presentation: Poster
Publication: 2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience, 13-16 September 2019, Berlin, Germany
Paper Title: Distractor Suppression Uniquely Contributes to the Lateralized Alpha Response in Spatial Attention
Manuscript:  Click here to view manuscript
License: Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32470/CCN.2019.1137-0
Authors: Malte Wöstmann, Mohsen Alavash, Jonas Obleser, University of Luebeck, Germany
Abstract: In theory, selective attention results from target selection and distractor suppression. While neural oscillatory power in the alpha frequency band (~10 Hz) has been implicated in the selection of to-be-attended targets, there is lack of empirical evidence for its involvement in the suppression of to-be-ignored distractors. Here, we use electroencephalography (EEG) recordings of N = 33 human participants to test the pre-registered hypothesis that alpha power relates to distractor suppression (https://osf.io/bv7zs). In an auditory spatial pitch discrimination task, we manipulated the side (left vs right) of either a target or distractor tone sequence, while fixing the other in the front. Alpha power relatively increased contralateral to the target stream and decreased ipsilaterally. Critically, alpha lateralization reversed in direction for the suppression of distractors, which agrees with the hypothesized involvement of alpha power in distractor suppression. Source analysis revealed that suppression modulated lateralized alpha power in more anterior, frontal cortical regions than selection. Alpha lateralization bore functional significance in that it allowed us to predict single-trial behavioural accuracy. Findings support a model in which suppression is not a necessary by-product of selection but an independent neuro-cognitive process.