Transcranial magnetic stimulation effects support an oscillatory model of ERP genesis

Jelena Trajkovic, Francesco Di Gregorio, Gregor Thut, Vincenzo Romei*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Whether prestimulus oscillatory brain activity contributes to the generation of post-stimulus-evoked neural responses has long been debated, but findings remain inconclusive. We first investigated the hypothesized relationship via EEG recordings during a perceptual task with this correlational evidence causally probed subsequently by means of online rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulation. Both approaches revealed a close link between prestimulus individual alpha frequency (IAF) and P1 latency, with faster IAF being related to shorter latencies, best explained via phase-reset mechanisms. Moreover, prestimulus alpha amplitude predicted P3 size, best explained via additive (correlational and causal evidence) and baseline shift mechanisms (correlational evidence), each with distinct prestimulus alpha contributors. Finally, in terms of performance, faster prestimulus IAF and shorter P1 latencies were both associated with higher task accuracy, while lower prestimulus alpha amplitudes and higher P3 amplitudes were associated with higher confidence ratings. Our results are in favor of the oscillatory model of ERP genesis and modulation, shedding new light on the mechanistic relationship between prestimulus oscillations and functionally relevant evoked components.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1048-1058.e4
JournalCurrent Biology
Volume34
Issue number5
Early online date19 Feb 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Mar 2024

Keywords

  • EEG
  • P100
  • P300
  • TMS
  • alpha rhythm
  • evoked responses
  • oscillatory entrainment
  • transcranial magnetic stimulation
  • visual awareness
  • visual perception

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