Causal links between parietal alpha activity and spatial auditory attention

Both visual and auditory spatial selective attention result in lateralized alpha (8-14 Hz) oscillatory power in parietal cortex: alpha increases in the hemisphere ipsilateral to attentional focus. Brain stimulation studies suggest a causal relationship between parietal alpha and suppression of the representation of contralateral visual space. However, there is no evidence that parietal alpha controls auditory spatial attention. Here, we performed high definition transcranial alternating current stimulation (HD-tACS) on human subjects performing an auditory task in which they directed attention based on either spatial or nonspatial features. Alpha (10 Hz) but not theta (6 Hz) HD-tACS of right parietal cortex interfered with attending left but not right auditory space. Parietal stimulation had no effect for nonspatial auditory attention. Moreover, performance in post-stimulation trials returned rapidly to baseline. These results demonstrate a causal, frequency-, hemispheric-, and task-spe...视觉与听觉空间选择性注意均可使顶叶皮层产生偏侧化的α（alpha，8~14 Hz）振荡功率：与注意焦点同侧的大脑半球α功率会升高。脑刺激研究表明，顶叶α振荡与对侧视觉空间表征的抑制存在因果关联。然而目前尚无证据表明顶叶α振荡可调控听觉空间注意。本研究对执行听觉任务的人类受试者施加了高清经颅交流电刺激（high definition transcranial alternating current stimulation, HD-tACS），任务中受试者需基于空间或非空间特征分配注意力。对右侧顶叶皮层施加10 Hz的α振荡HD-tACS，而非6 Hz的θ（theta）HD-tACS，会干扰受试者对左侧听觉空间的注意，但不影响其对右侧听觉空间的注意。顶叶刺激对非空间听觉注意无显著影响。此外，刺激后试次中的任务表现可快速恢复至基线水平。上述结果证实了顶叶α振荡在听觉空间注意中的调控作用具有因果性、频率特异性、半球特异性与任务特异性...