scholarly journals Probing the limits of alpha power lateralisation as a neural marker of selective attention in middle-aged and older listeners

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 2537-2550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Tune ◽  
Malte Wöstmann ◽  
Jonas Obleser
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Neural Marker

scholarly journals Probing the limits of alpha power lateralization as a neural marker of selective attention in middle-aged and older listeners

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Tune ◽  
Malte Wöstmann ◽  
Jonas Obleser
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Auditory Attention ◽  
Hemispheric Lateralization ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Auditory Spatial Attention ◽  
Neural Marker

AbstractIn recent years, hemispheric lateralization of alpha power has emerged as a neural mechanism thought to underpin spatial attention across sensory modalities. Yet, how healthy aging, beginning in middle adulthood, impacts the modulation of lateralized alpha power supporting auditory attention remains poorly understood. In the current electroencephalography (EEG) study, middle-aged and older adults (N = 29; ~40-70 years) performed a dichotic listening task that simulates a challenging, multi-talker scenario. We examined the extent to which the modulation of 8-12 Hz alpha power would serve as neural marker of listening success across age. With respect to the increase in inter-individual variability with age, we examined an extensive battery of behavioral, perceptual, and neural measures. Similar to findings on younger adults, middle-aged and older listeners′ auditory spatial attention induced robust lateralization of alpha power, which synchronized with the speech rate. Notably, the observed relationship between this alpha lateralization and task performance did not co-vary with age. Instead, task performance was strongly related to an individual’s attentional and working memory capacity. Multivariate analyses revealed a separation of neural and behavioral variables independent of age. Our results suggest that in age-varying samples as the present one, the lateralization of alpha power is neither a sufficient nor necessary neural strategy for an individual’s auditory spatial attention, as higher age might come with increased use of alternative, compensatory mechanisms. Our findings emphasize that explaining inter-individual variability will be key to understanding the role of alpha oscillations in auditory attention in the aging listener.

scholarly journals Neural attentional-filter mechanisms of listening success in middle-aged and older individuals

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Tune ◽  
Mohsen Alavash ◽  
Lorenz Fiedler ◽  
Jonas Obleser
Keyword(s):  
Ageing Population ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Single Trial ◽  
Neural Filter ◽  
Information Research ◽  
Behavioural Performance ◽  
Neural Marker ◽  
Attentional Filter ◽  
Speech Tracking

AbstractSuccessful listening crucially depends on intact attentional filters that separate relevant from irrelevant information. Research into their neurobiological implementation has focused on two potential auditory filter strategies: the lateralization of alpha power and selective neural speech tracking. However, the functional interplay of the two neural filter strategies and their potency to index listening success in an ageing population remains unclear. Using electroencephalography and a dual-talker task in a representative sample of listeners (N = 155; age=39–80 years), we here demonstrate an often-missed link from single-trial behavioural outcomes back to trial-by-trial changes in neural attentional filtering. First, we observe preserved attentional–cue-driven modulation of both neural filters across chronological age and hearing levels. Second, neural filter states vary independently of one another, demonstrating complementary neurobiological solutions of spatial selective attention. Stronger neural speech tracking but not alpha lateralization boosts trial-to-trial behavioural performance. Our results highlight the translational potential of neural speech tracking as an individualized neural marker of adaptive listening behaviour.

Dietary choline is related to neural efficiency during a selective attention task among middle-aged adults with overweight and obesity

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlyn G. Edwards ◽  
Anne M. Walk ◽  
Corinne N. Cannavale ◽  
Isabel R. Flemming ◽  
Sharon V. Thompson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Neural Efficiency ◽  
Middle Aged Adults ◽  
Dietary Choline

scholarly journals EEG dynamics reveal a dissociation between storage and selective attention within working memory

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eren Günseli ◽  
Johannes Jacobus Fahrenfort ◽  
Dirk van Moorselaar ◽  
Konstantinos Christos Daoultzis ◽  
Martijn Meeter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Retention Interval ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Information Loss ◽  
Recall Task ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Cue Reliability ◽  
Contralateral Delay Activity

Abstract Selective attention plays a prominent role in prioritizing information in working memory (WM), improving performance for attended representations. However, it remains unclear whether unattended WM representations suffer from information loss. Here we tested the hypothesis that within WM, selectively attending to an item and stopping storing other items are independent mechanisms. We recorded EEG while participants performed a WM recall task in which the item most likely to be tested was cued retrospectively during retention. By manipulating retro-cue reliability (i.e., the ratio of valid to invalid cue trials), we varied the incentive to retain non-cued items. Storage and selective attention in WM were measured during the retention interval by contralateral delay activity (CDA) and contralateral alpha power suppression, respectively. Soon after highly reliable cues, the cued item was attended, and non-cued items suffered information loss. However, for less reliable cues, initially the cued item was attended, but unattended items were kept in WM. Later during the delay, previously unattended items suffered information loss despite now attention being reallocated to their locations, presumably to strengthen their weakening traces. These results show that storage and attention in WM are distinct processes that can behave differently depending on the relative importance of representations.

scholarly journals Unattended but actively stored: EEG dynamics reveal a dissociation between selective attention and storage in working memory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Gunseli ◽  
J. Fahrenfort ◽  
D. van Moorselaar ◽  
K. Daoultzis ◽  
M. Meeter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Information Loss ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Eeg Signals ◽  
Contralateral Delay Activity ◽  
And Storage

AbstractSelective attention plays a prominent role in prioritizing information in working memory (WM), improving performance for attended representations. However, it remains unclear what the consequences of selection are for the maintenance of unattended WM representations, and whether this results in information loss. Here we tested the hypothesis that within WM, selectively attending to an item and the decision to stop storing other items involve independent mechanisms. We recorded EEG while participants performed a WM recall task in which the item most likely to be tested was cued retrospectively. By manipulating retro-cue reliability (i.e. the ratio of valid to invalid cue trials) we varied the incentive to retain uncued items. Contralateral alpha power suppression, a proxy for attention, indicated that, initially, the cued item was attended equally following high and low reliability cues, but attention was sustained throughout the delay period only after high reliability cues. Furthermore, contralateral delay activity (CDA), a proxy for storage, indicated that non-cued items were dropped sooner from WM after highly reliability cues than after cues with low reliability. These results show that attention and storage in WM are distinct processes that can behave differently depending on the relative importance of WM representations, as expressed in dissociable EEG signals.

scholarly journals Occipital Alpha and Gamma Oscillations Support Complementary Mechanisms for Processing Stimulus Value Associations

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom R. Marshall ◽  
Sebastiaan den Boer ◽  
Roshan Cools ◽  
Ole Jensen ◽  
Sean James Fallon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Gamma Oscillations ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Neural Oscillations ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Cortical Oscillations ◽  
Stimulus Value

Selective attention is reflected neurally in changes in the power of posterior neural oscillations in the alpha (8–12 Hz) and gamma (40–100 Hz) bands. Although a neural mechanism that allows relevant information to be selectively processed has its advantages, it may lead to lucrative or dangerous information going unnoticed. Neural systems are also in place for processing rewarding and punishing information. Here, we examine the interaction between selective attention (left vs. right) and stimulus's learned value associations (neutral, punished, or rewarded) and how they compete for control of posterior neural oscillations. We found that both attention and stimulus–value associations influenced neural oscillations. Whereas selective attention had comparable effects on alpha and gamma oscillations, value associations had dissociable effects on these neural markers of attention. Salient targets (associated with positive and negative outcomes) hijacked changes in alpha power—increasing hemispheric alpha lateralization when salient targets were attended, decreasing it when they were being ignored. In contrast, hemispheric gamma-band lateralization was specifically abolished by negative distractors. Source analysis indicated occipital generators of both attentional and value effects. Thus, posterior cortical oscillations support both the ability to selectively attend while at the same time retaining the ability to remain sensitive to valuable features in the environment. Moreover, the versatility of our attentional system to respond separately to salient from merely positively valued stimuli appears to be carried out by separate neural processes reflected in different frequency bands.

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