Enhancing visual motion discrimination by desynchronizing bifocal oscillatory activity

Roberto F Salamanca-Giron; Estelle Raffin; Sarah B Zandvliet; Martin Seeber; Christoph M Michel; Paul Sauseng; Krystel R Huxlin; Friedhelm C Hummel

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118299

Enhancing visual motion discrimination by desynchronizing bifocal oscillatory activity

Neuroimage. 2021 Oct 15:240:118299. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118299. Epub 2021 Jun 22.

Authors

Roberto F Salamanca-Giron¹, Estelle Raffin¹, Sarah B Zandvliet¹, Martin Seeber², Christoph M Michel³, Paul Sauseng⁴, Krystel R Huxlin⁵, Friedhelm C Hummel⁶

Affiliations

¹ Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Room H4.3.132.084, Chemin des Mines 9, Geneva, Switzerland; Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Clinique Romande de Readaptation (CRR), EPFL Valais, Sion, Switzerland.
² Functional Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University of Geneva, Campus Biotech, Chemin des Mines 9, 1202, Geneva, Switzerland.
³ Functional Brain Mapping Lab, Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University of Geneva, Campus Biotech, Chemin des Mines 9, 1202, Geneva, Switzerland; Lemanic Biomedical Imaging Centre (CIBM), Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Psychology, LMU Munich, Leopoldstr. 13, Munich 80802, Germany.
⁵ The Flaum Eye Institute and Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
⁶ Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Campus Biotech, Room H4.3.132.084, Chemin des Mines 9, Geneva, Switzerland; Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Clinique Romande de Readaptation (CRR), EPFL Valais, Sion, Switzerland; Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva Medical School, Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 34171500
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118299

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 V1_alpha-V5_alpha tACS (0° lag), (2) individualized Anti-Phase V1_alpha-V5_alpha 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 V1_alpha-V5_alpha tACS might impose an optimal phase lag between stimulation sites due to the inherent speed of wave propagation, hereby supporting optimized neuronal communication.

Keywords: Motion discrimination; Multisite tACS; Noninvasive brain stimulation; Oscillatory synchronization; Phase-amplitude coupling; Visual processing.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Alpha Rhythm / physiology*
Discrimination Learning / physiology*
Electroencephalography / methods
Female
Humans
Male
Motion Perception / physiology*
Photic Stimulation / methods*
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation / methods*
Visual Cortex / physiology*
Young Adult