Causal links between parietal alpha activity and spatial auditory attention
Abstract
Both visual and auditory spatial selective attention result in lateralized alpha (8–14 Hz) oscillatory power in parietal cortex: alpha increases in the hemisphere ipsilateral to attentional focus. Brain stimulation studies suggest a causal relationship between parietal alpha and suppression of the representation of contralateral visual space. However, there is no evidence that parietal alpha controls auditory spatial attention. Here, we performed high definition transcranial alternating current stimulation (HD-tACS) on human subjects performing an auditory task in which they directed attention based on either spatial or nonspatial features. Alpha (10 Hz) but not theta (6 Hz) HD-tACS of right parietal cortex interfered with attending left but not right auditory space. Parietal stimulation had no effect for nonspatial auditory attention. Moreover, performance in post-stimulation trials returned rapidly to baseline. These results demonstrate a causal, frequency-, hemispheric-, and task-specific effect of parietal alpha brain stimulation on top-down control of auditory spatial attention.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Nov 29, 2019
- Source ID
- 10.7554/elife.51184
Entities
People
- Barbara Shinn-Cunningham
- Inyong Choi
- Robert Mg Reinhart
- Yuqi Deng
Organizations
- Boston University
- Carnegie Mellon University
- National Institutes of Health
- Office of Naval Research
- University of Iowa