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The effect of task‐irrelevant visual backgrounds on human transcranial magnetic stimulation‐evoked electroencephalography responses and cortical alpha activity
Author(s) -
Rutiku Renate,
Einberg Anu,
Imanaka Kuniyasu,
Bachmann Talis
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/ejn.12374
Subject(s) - transcranial magnetic stimulation , electroencephalography , psychology , neuroscience , alpha (finance) , photic stimulation , transcranial alternating current stimulation , arousal , perception , stimulation , visual perception , visual cortex , brain activity and meditation , evoked potential , audiology , developmental psychology , medicine , construct validity , psychometrics
Brain responses evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation ( TMS ) in task‐free experimental contexts are known to depend on psychophysiological states such as sleep, vegetative state and caffeine‐induced arousal. Much less is known about how TMS ‐evoked responses depend on task‐irrelevant steady perceptual input. Here, we examined ongoing alpha activity and the mean amplitude of EEG potentials in response to occipitally applied TMS as a function of task‐irrelevant visual backgrounds. Responses to TMS were robustly modulated by photographs of natural scenes and man‐made environments. These effects began as early as during the N 100 and continued for several hundred milliseconds after the stimulation. There was also a more general effect of background along with other stimuli, such as blank backgrounds, sinusoidal gratings and moving dot‐patterns. This effect was observable from ongoing alpha activity as well. Based on these results we conclude that different types of steady perceptual input modulate visual cortex reactivity and/or connectivity and it is possible to measure these modulations by combining TMS with electroencephalography.