Authors: Tomoya Kawashima*, Ryohei Nakayama*, Kaoru Amano (* equal contribution)

Title: Theoretical and Technical Issues Concerning the Measurement of Alpha Frequency and the Application of Signal Detection
Theory: Comment on Buergers and Noppeney (2022)

Journal: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_02010

論文URL: https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_02010

Abstract: Classical and recent evidence has suggested that alpha oscillations play a critical role in temporally discriminating or binding successively presented items. Challenging this view, Buergers and Noppeney [Buergers, S., & Noppeney, U. The role of alpha oscillations in temporal binding within and across the senses. Nature Human Behaviour, 6, 732–742, 2022] found that by combining EEG, psychophysics, and signal detection theory, neither prestimulus nor resting-state alpha frequency influences perceptual sensitivity and bias in the temporal binding task. We propose the following four points that should be considered when interpreting the role of alpha oscillations, and especially their frequency, on perceptual temporal binding: (1) Multiple alpha components can be contaminated in conventional EEG analysis; (2) the effect of alpha frequency on perception will interact with alpha power; (3) prestimulus and resting-state alpha frequency can be different from poststimulus alpha frequency, which is the frequency during temporal binding and should be more directly related to temporal binding; and (4) when applying signal detection theory under the assumption of equal variance, the assumption is often incomplete and can be problematic (e.g., the magnitude relationships between individuals in parametric sensitivity may change when converted into nonparametric sensitivity). Future directions, including solutions to each of the issues, are discussed.

著者Contact先の email:

川島朋也(金沢工業大学 情報フロンティア学部 心理科学科):kawashima-t[at]neptune.kanazawa-it.ac.jp([at]を@に変更してください。)

中山遼平(東京大学大学院 人文社会系研究科 基礎文化研究専攻心理学講座:ryouhei.nakayama[at]gmail.com([at]を@に変更してください。)

天野薫(東京大学大学院 情報理工学系研究科):kaoru_amano[at]ipc.i.u-tokyo.ac.jp([at]を@に変更してください。)

日本語によるコメント:

 脳活動に認められるアルファ波はヒトの視知覚と関連することが示唆されてきていますが、Buergers and Noppeney (2022) はこの見解に反して、刺激呈示前のアルファ周波数や安静時アルファ周波数が知覚感度やバイアスに影響しないことを報告しました。これに対する意見論文がJournal of Cognitive Neuroscience誌で特集されることになり、本論文も我々が意見論文として考えを発表したものになります。特に、アルファ周波数の性質やアルファパワーとの関連、そして該当論文で使用されていた信号検出理論の適用妥当性を議論しました。