We investigated the temporospatial dynamics of the power of the phase-linked component and the total power of EEG alpha oscillations on presentation of an illusory outline (Kanizsa square) and a control nonillusory image to 16 healthy adult subjects. Alpha oscillations were identified using wavelets; statistical assessments of the dynamics of alpha power were studied by analysis of variance, along with a new nonparametric multifactorial analysis method. Presentation of visual stimuli was found to be accompanied by early increases in the total power of alpha oscillations, which were more marked on perception of the illusory outline as compared with the control stimulus (the “illusion effect”). This early short phase of the alpha response arose mainly because of the phase-linked component, and was followed by a longer-lasting phase of depression of the total power of alpha oscillations (“alpha rhythm blockade”), which was nonspecific in relation to the type of stimulus. Both phases of the alpha response were most marked in the parietal-temporal-occipital areas of the right hemisphere. We propose that the first increase in alpha oscillations reflects modulation of the activity of neuron ensembles involved in processing the overall patterns, while alpha rhythm blockade is associated with orientation processes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A. A. Morozov,V. A. Morozov,Yu. V. Obukhov, and T. A. Stroganova, “A non-parametric method for the multidimensional multifactorial analysis of human electroencephalograms,” Iskusst. Intellekt., 3, 603–612 (2006).
E. N. Sokolov, Neural Mechanisms of Memory and Learning [in Russian], Nauka, Moscow (1981).
M. Bastiaansen and P. Hagoort, “Event-induced theta responses as a window on the dynamics of memory,” Cortex, 39, No. 4–5, 967–992 (2003).
O. Bertrand and C. Tallon-Baudry, “Oscillatory gamma activity in humans: a possible role for object representation,” Int. J. Psychophysiol., 38, No. 3, 211–223 (2000).
M. Brodeur, F. Lepore, and J. B. Debruille, “The effect of interpolation and perceptual difficulty on the visual potentials evoked by illusory figures,” Brain Res., 1068, No. 1, 143–150 (2006).
A. Burgess and J. Gruzelier, “Localisation of cerebral function using topographical mapping of EEG: a preliminary validation study,” EEG Clin. Neurophysiol., 87, No. 4, 254–247 (1993).
W. R. Gruber,W. Klimesch, P. Sauseng, and M. Doppelmayr, “Alpha phase synchronization predicts P1 and N1 latency and amplitude size,” Cereb. Cortex, 15, No. 4, 371–377 (2005).
S. Hanslmayr,W. Klimesch, P. Sauseng,W. Gruber, M. Doppelmayr, R. Freunberger, and T. Pecherstorfer, “Visual discrimination performance is related to decreased alpha amplitude but increased phase locking,” Neurosci. Lett., 375, No. 1, 64–68 (2005).
C. S. Herrmann, D. Senkowski, and S. Rottger, “Phase-locking and amplitude modulations of EEG alpha: Two measures reflect different cognitive processes in a working memory task,” Exp. Psychol., 51, No. 4, 311–318 (2004).
J. Hirsch, R. L. DeLaPaz, N. R. Relkin, J. Victor, K. Kim, T. Li, P. Borden, N. Rubin, and R. Shapley, “Illusory contours activate specific regions in human visual cortex: evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 92, No. 14, 6469–6473 (1995).
G. W. Humphreys, M. J. Riddoch, N. Donnelly, T. Freeman, M. Boucart, and H. Muller, Intermediate Visual Processing and Visual Agnosia, M. J. Farah and G. Ratcliffe (eds.), Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., Hillsdale (1994), pp. 63–101.
N. Kanwisher and E. Wojciulik, “Visual attention: insights from brain imaging,” Nat. Rev. Neurosci., 1, No. 2, 91–100 (2000).
W. Klimesch, P. Sauseng, and S. Hanslmayer, “EEG alpha oscillations: the inhibition-timing hypothesis,” Brain Res. Rev., 53, No. 1, 63–88 (2007).
V. Kolev, J. Yordanova, M. Schurmann, and E. Batar, “Event-related alpha oscillations in task processing,” Clin. Neurophysiol., 110, No. 10, 1784–1792 (1999).
A. T. Kulics, “Cortical neural evoked correlates of somatosensory stimulus detection in the rhesus monkey,” EEG Clin. Neurophysiol., 53, No. 1, 78–93 (1982).
S. Makeig, M. Westerfield, T. P. Jung, S. Enghoff, J. Townsend, E. Courchesne, and T. J. Sejnowski, “Dynamic brain sources of visual evoked responses,” Science, 295, No. 5555, 699–694 (2002).
T. Mima, T. Oluwatimilehin, T. Hiraoka, and M. Hallett, “Transient interhemispheric neuronal synchrony correlates with object recognition,” J. Neurosci., 21, No. 11, 3942–3948 (2001).
A. A. Morozov, V. A. Morozov,Y. V. Obukhov, and T. A. Stroganova “A non-parametric method of multi-way analysis of event-related response in human EEG,” in: 8th Int. Conf. on Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis: New Information Technologies (PRIA-8-2007, October 8–12, 2007): Conf. Proc., Vol. 3 (2007), pp. 92–95.
S. Palva and J. M. Palva, “New vistas for alpha-frequency band oscillations,” Trends Neurosci., 30, No. 4, 1500–158 (2007).
D. Pins and D. Ffytche, “The neural correlates of conscious vision,” Cereb. Cortex, 13, No. 5, 461–474 (2003).
A. M. Proverbio and A. Zani, “Electrophysiological indexes of illusory contours perception in humans,” Neuropsychologia, 40, No. 5, 479–491 (2002).
W. J. Ray and H. W. Cole, “EEG activity during cognitive processing: influence of attentional factors,” Int. J. Psychophysiol., 3, No. 1, 43–48 (1985).
A. Ritzl, J. C. Marshall, P. H. Weiss, O. Zafiris, N. J. Shah, K. Zilles, and G. R. Shah, “Functional anatomy and differential time courses of neural processing for explicit, inferred, and illusory contours. An event-related fMRI study,” Neuroimage, 19, No. 4, 1567–1577 (2003).
W. Singer and C. M. Gray, “Visual feature integration and the temporal correlation hypothesis,” Ann. Rev. Neurosci., 18, 555–586 (1995).
T. A. Stroganova, E. V. Orekhova, A. O. Prokofyev, I. N. Posikera, A. A. Morozov,Y. V. Obukhov, and V. A. Morozova, “Inverted eventrelated potentials response to illusory contour in boys with autism,” Neuroreport, 18, No. 9, 931–935 (2007).
C. Tallon-Baudry, O. Bertrand, C. Delpuech, and J. Pernier, “Stimulus specificity of phase-locked and non-phase-locked 40 Hz visual responses in human,” J. Neurosci., 16, No. 13, 4240–4249 (1996).
C. Tallon, O. Bertrand, P. Bouchet, and J. Pernier, “Gamma-range activity evoked by coherent visual stimuli in humans,” Eur. J. Neurosci., 7, No. 6, 1285–1291 (1995).
A. M. Treisman and G. Gelade, “A feature-integration theory of attention,” Cogn. Psychol., 12, No. 1, 97–136 (1980).
R. Van Rullen and C. Koch, “Is perception discrete or continuous?” Trends Cogn. Sci., 7, No. 5, 207–213 (2003).
A. Von Stein, C. Chiang, and P. Konig, “Top-down processing mediated by interareal synchronization,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 97, No. 26, 14748–14753 (2000).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
V. A. Morozov (Deceased).
Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 59, No. 6, pp. 660–672, November–December, 2009.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stroganova, T.A., Posikera, I.N., Prokofiev, A.O. et al. EEG alpha activity in the human brain during perception of an illusory kanizsa square. Neurosci Behav Physi 41, 130–139 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-011-9389-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-011-9389-6