EEG-Microstates Reflect Auditory Distraction After Attentive Audiovisual Perception Recruitment of Cognitive Control Networks

Ute Korn; Marina Krylova; Kilian L Heck; Florian B Häußinger; Robert S Stark; Sarah Alizadeh; Hamidreza Jamalabadi; Martin Walter; Ralf A W Galuske; Matthias H J Munk

doi:10.3389/fnsys.2021.751226

EEG-Microstates Reflect Auditory Distraction After Attentive Audiovisual Perception Recruitment of Cognitive Control Networks

Front Syst Neurosci. 2021 Dec 9:15:751226. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2021.751226. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Ute Korn^{1

2}, Marina Krylova^{2

3}, Kilian L Heck¹, Florian B Häußinger^{2

4}, Robert S Stark², Sarah Alizadeh^{2

3}, Hamidreza Jamalabadi^{2

5}, Martin Walter³, Ralf A W Galuske¹, Matthias H J Munk^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Systems Neurophysiology, Department of Biology, Darmstadt University of Technology, Darmstadt, Germany.
² Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany.
⁴ NTT DATA Deutschland GmbH, Munich, Germany.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University, Marburg, Germany.

Abstract

Processing of sensory information is embedded into ongoing neural processes which contribute to brain states. Electroencephalographic microstates are semi-stable short-lived power distributions which have been associated with subsystem activity such as auditory, visual and attention networks. Here we explore changes in electrical brain states in response to an audiovisual perception and memorization task under conditions of auditory distraction. We discovered changes in brain microstates reflecting a weakening of states representing activity of the auditory system and strengthening of salience networks, supporting the idea that salience networks are active after audiovisual encoding and during memorization to protect memories and concentrate on upcoming behavioural response.

Keywords: attention; audiovisual; background music; crossmodal; distraction; electroencephalography; microstates; resting states.