Publication

Enhancing visual motion discrimination by desynchronizing bifocal oscillatory activity

Abstract

Visual motion discrimination involves reciprocal interactions in the alpha band between the primary visual cortex (V1) and mediotemporal areas (V5/MT). We investigated whether modulating alpha phase synchronization using individualized multisite transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) over V5 and V1 regions would improve motion discrimination. We tested 3 groups of healthy subjects with the following conditions: (1) individualized In-Phase V1alpha-V5alpha tACS (0° lag), (2) individualized Anti-Phase V1alpha-V5alpha tACS (180° lag) and (3) sham tACS. Motion discrimination and EEG activity were recorded before, during and after tACS. Performance significantly improved in the Anti-Phase group compared to the In-Phase group 10 and 30 min after stimulation. This result was explained by decreases in bottom-up alpha-V1 gamma-V5 phase-amplitude coupling. One possible explanation of these results is that Anti-Phase V1alpha-V5alpha tACS might impose an optimal phase lag between stimulation sites due to the inherent speed of wave propagation, hereby supporting optimized neuronal communication.

About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related concepts (33)
Visual cortex
The visual cortex of the brain is the area of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information. It is located in the occipital lobe. Sensory input originating from the eyes travels through the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus and then reaches the visual cortex. The area of the visual cortex that receives the sensory input from the lateral geniculate nucleus is the primary visual cortex, also known as visual area 1 (V1), Brodmann area 17, or the striate cortex.
Neurostimulation
Neurostimulation is the purposeful modulation of the nervous system's activity using invasive (e.g. microelectrodes) or non-invasive means (e.g. transcranial magnetic stimulation or transcranial electric stimulation, tES, such as tDCS or transcranial alternating current stimulation, tACS). Neurostimulation usually refers to the electromagnetic approaches to neuromodulation.
Neural oscillation
Neural oscillations, or brainwaves, are rhythmic or repetitive patterns of neural activity in the central nervous system. Neural tissue can generate oscillatory activity in many ways, driven either by mechanisms within individual neurons or by interactions between neurons. In individual neurons, oscillations can appear either as oscillations in membrane potential or as rhythmic patterns of action potentials, which then produce oscillatory activation of post-synaptic neurons.
Show more
Related publications (37)

Probing and modulating inter-areal coupling in the cortical visual motion processing pathway with non-invasive brain stimulation

Michele Bevilacqua

In the last few years, stroke ranked as the second most common cause of death and is the third most significant condition affecting disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) worldwide. Being the most prevalent and quality of life impacting post-stroke symptom ...
EPFL2024

Decoding electroencephalographic responses to visual stimuli compatible with electrical stimulation

Silvestro Micera, Simone Romeni, Laura Toni, Fiorenzo Artoni

Electrical stimulation of the visual nervous system could improve the quality of life of patients affected by acquired blindness by restoring some visual sensations, but requires careful optimization of stimulation parameters to produce useful perceptions. ...
Aip Publishing2024

Predicting Visual Stimuli From Cortical Response Recorded With Wide-Field Imaging in a Mouse

Silvestro Micera, Daniela De Luca

Neural decoding of the visual system is a subject of research interest, both to understand how the visual system works and to be able to use this knowledge in areas, such as computer vision or brain-computer interfaces. Spike-based decoding is often used, ...
Ieee-Inst Electrical Electronics Engineers Inc2024
Show more
Related MOOCs (23)
Selected chapters form winterschool on multi-scale brain
Understanding the brain requires an integrated understan­ding of different scales of organisation of the brain. This Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) will take the you through the latest data, models
Selected chapters form winterschool on multi-scale brain
Understanding the brain requires an integrated understan­ding of different scales of organisation of the brain. This Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) will take the you through the latest data, models
Fundamentals of Biomedical Imaging: Ultrasounds, X-ray, positron emission tomography (PET) and applications
Learn how principles of basic science are integrated into major biomedical imaging modalities and the different techniques used, such as X-ray computed tomography (CT), ultrasounds and positron emissi
Show more

Graph Chatbot

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.