Detecting Pre-Stimulus Source-Level Effects on Object Perception with Magnetoencephalography

Pre-stimulus oscillatory brain activity influences upcoming perception. The characteristics of this pre-stimulus activity can predict whether a near-threshold stimulus will be perceived or not perceived, but can they also predict which one of two competing stimuli with different perceptual contents is perceived? Ambiguous visual stimuli, which can be seen in one of two possible ways at a time, are ideally suited to investigate this question. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a neurophysiological measurement technique that records magnetic signals emitted as a result of brain activity. The millisecond temporal resolution of MEG allows for a characterization of oscillatory brain states from as little as 1 second of recorded data. Presenting an empty screen around 1 second prior to the ambiguous stimulus onset therefore provides a time window in which one can investigate whether pre-stimulus oscillatory activity biases the content of upcoming perception, as indicated by participants' reports. The spatial resolution of MEG is not excellent, but sufficient to localise sources of brain activity at the centimetre scale. Source reconstruction of MEG activity then allows for testing hypotheses about the oscillatory activity of specific regions of interest, as well as the time- and frequency-resolved connectivity between regions of interest. The described protocol enables a better understanding of the influence of spontaneous, ongoing brain activity on visual perception.