Cortical functional topography of high-frequency gamma activity relates to perceptual decision: an Intracranial study

PLoS One. 2017 Oct 26;12(10):e0186428. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186428. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

High-frequency activity (HFA) is believed to subserve a functional role in cognition, but these patterns are often not accessible to scalp EEG recordings. Intracranial studies provide a unique opportunity to link the all-encompassing range of high-frequency patterns with holistic perception. We tested whether the functional topography of HFAs (up to 250Hz) is related to perceptual decision-making. Human intracortical data were recorded (6 subjects; >250channels) during an ambiguous object-recognition task. We found a spatial topography of HFAs reflecting processing anterior dorsal and ventral streams, linked to decision independently of the type of processed object/stimulus category. Three distinct regional fingerprints could be identified, with lower gamma frequency patterns (<45Hz) dominating in the anterior semantic ventral object processing and dorsoventral integrating networks and evolving later, during perceptual decision phases, than early sensory posterior patterns (60-250Hz). This suggests that accurate object recognition/perceptual decision-making is related to distinct spatiotemporal signatures in the low gamma frequency range.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiopathology*
  • Decision Making*
  • Electroencephalography
  • Epilepsy / physiopathology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Reaction Time
  • Visual Perception*
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

Funded by FP7-HEALTH-2013-INNOVATION-1-602186-BRAINTRAIN, UID/NEU/04539/2013 COMPETE POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007440, CENTRO-07-ST24-FEDER-00205, BIGDATIMAGE, CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000016, Centro 2020 FEDER, COMPETE, PAC – MEDPERSYST, POCI-01- 0145-FEDER-016428. Bial 373/14. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.