“School of Cognitive Sciences”
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| Paper IPM / Cognitive Sciences / 17836 |
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Research in cognitive neuroscience has renewed the idea that brain oscillations are a core organization implicated in fundamental brain functions. Growing evidence reveals that the characteristic features of these oscillations, including power, phase and frequency, are highly non-stationary, fluctuating alongside alternations in sensation, cognition and behavior. However, there is little consensus on the functional implications of the instantaneous frequency variation in cortical excitability and concomitant behavior. Here, we capitalized on intracortical electrophysiology in the macaque monkeyâ??s visual area MT performing a visuospatial discrimination task with visual cues. We observed that the instantaneous frequency of the thetaâ??alpha oscillations (4â??13 Hz) is modulated among specific neurons whose RFs overlap with the cued stimulus location. Interestingly, we found that such frequency modulation is causally correlated with MT excitability at both scales of individual and ensemble of neurons. Moreover, studying the functional relevance of frequency variations indicated that the average thetaâ??alpha frequencies foreshadow the monkeyâ??s reaction time. Our results also revealed that the neural synchronization strength alters with the average frequency shift in thetaâ??alpha oscillations, suggesting frequency modulation is critical for mutually adjusting MTsâ?? rhythms. Overall, our findings propose that thetaâ??alpha frequency variations modulate MTâ??s excitability, regulate mutual neuronsâ?? rhythmicity and indicate variability in behavior.
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