Revealing brain's cognitive process deeply: a study of the consistent EEG patterns of audio-visual perceptual holistic

Front Hum Neurosci. 2024 Mar 27:18:1377233. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1377233. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Introduction: To investigate the brain's cognitive process and perceptual holistic, we have developed a novel method that focuses on the informational attributes of stimuli.

Methods: We recorded EEG signals during visual and auditory perceptual cognition experiments and conducted ERP analyses to observe specific positive and negative components occurring after 400ms during both visual and auditory perceptual processes. These ERP components represent the brain's perceptual holistic processing activities, which we have named Information-Related Potentials (IRPs). We combined IRPs with machine learning methods to decode cognitive processes in the brain.

Results: Our experimental results indicate that IRPs can better characterize information processing, particularly perceptual holism. Additionally, we conducted a brain network analysis and found that visual and auditory perceptual holistic processing share consistent neural pathways.

Discussion: Our efforts not only demonstrate the specificity, significance, and reliability of IRPs but also reveal their great potential for future brain mechanism research and BCI applications.

Keywords: event-related potentials; information processing; information-related potentials; informational attribute; perceptual holistic.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U20A20383) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFC0833204).