Right lateralized travelling alpha waves are related to categorization speed in humans

Field: Neuroscience (Life Sciences)

Event Abstract Back to Event Right lateralized travelling alpha waves are related to categorization speed in humans Robert Fellinger1*, Walter Gruber1, Roman Freunberger2 and Wolfgang Klimesch1 1 University of Salzburg, Austria 2 University of Salzburg, MPI Berlin, Germany Recent evidence suggests that the visual P1 (first positive ERP-component) behaves like an evoked travelling alpha wave (Klimesch, 2007). In this study EEG-data are presented from a visual, content-related categorization task strengthening this observation by showing systematic ERP-latency-differences between posterior electrodes within subjects during the first 170 ms (comprising N40, P1 and N1 components). Most interestingly, the individual, right lateralized amount of travelling-characteristic (quantified by the variance of latency-differences) from posterior to lateral/anterior sites was negatively correlated with categorization speed between subjects. A new method for the single-trial analysis based on absolute phase-differences (between electrodes) confirmed the hypothesis of propagating alpha-waves between 50 and 170 ms post-stimulus. Thus, the corresponding ERP-components (N40, P1 and N1) must be considered the result of an evoked travelling alpha wave complex that is mainly engaged in early stimulus categorization. In more general terms we conclude a) that spreading alpha reflects the directed flow of information during early stages of visual perception and b) that particularly the P1 is the manifestation of an oscillatory mechanism engaged in content-related categorization. Funding: Austrian Science Foundation (FWF Project P21503-B18). Keywords: brain oscillations, EEG Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Quantitative Analysis of EEG, MEG & Brain Oscillations Citation: Fellinger R, Gruber W, Freunberger R and Klimesch W (2011). Right lateralized travelling alpha waves are related to categorization speed in humans. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00136 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 17 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Mr. Robert Fellinger, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria, fellingerr@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Robert Fellinger Walter Gruber Roman Freunberger Wolfgang Klimesch Google Robert Fellinger Walter Gruber Roman Freunberger Wolfgang Klimesch Google Scholar Robert Fellinger Walter Gruber Roman Freunberger Wolfgang Klimesch PubMed Robert Fellinger Walter Gruber Roman Freunberger Wolfgang Klimesch Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.