Title
Pre-stimulus brain state predicts auditory pattern identification accuracy.
Abstract
Recent studies show that pre-stimulus band-specific power and phase in the electroencephalogram (EEG) can predict accuracy on tasks involving the detection of near-threshold stimuli. However, results in the auditory modality have been mixed, and few works have examined pre-stimulus features when more complex decisions are made (e.g. identifying supra-threshold sounds). Further, most auditory studies have used background sounds known to induce oscillatory EEG states, leaving it unclear whether phase predicts accuracy without such background sounds. To address this gap in knowledge, the present study examined pre-stimulus EEG as it relates to accuracy in a tone pattern identification task. On each trial, participants heard a triad of 40-ms sinusoidal tones (separated by 40-ms intervals), one of which was at a different frequency than the other two. Participants' task was to indicate the tone pattern (low-low-high, low-high-low, etc.). No background sounds were employed. Using a phase opposition measure based on inter-trial phase consistencies, pre-stimulus 7–10 Hz phase was found to differ between correct and incorrect trials ∼200 to 100 ms prior to tone-pattern onset. After sorting trials into bins based on phase, accuracy was found to be lowest at around π−+ relative to individuals’ most accurate phase bin. No significant effects were found for pre-stimulus power. In the context of the literature, findings suggest an important relationship between the complexity of task demands and pre-stimulus activity within the auditory domain. Results also raise interesting questions about the role of induced oscillatory states or rhythmic processing modes in obtaining pre-stimulus effects of phase in auditory tasks.
Year
DOI
Venue
2019
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.05.054
NeuroImage
Keywords
Field
DocType
Oscillation,Inter-trial phase consistency,Attention,Alpha,Time-frequency
Psychology,Cognitive psychology,Sorting,Speech recognition,Stimulus (physiology),Rhythm,Electroencephalography,Pattern identification
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
199
1053-8119
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Natalie E Hansen100.34
Assaf Harel272.47
Nandini Iyer331.75
Brian D. Simpson4398.77
Matthew Wisniewski500.68