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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access originally published online on December 7, 2005
Cerebral Cortex 2006 16(10):1522-1528; doi:10.1093/cercor/bhj089
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Integration of Local Features to a Global Percept by Neural Coupling

Michael Rose, Tobias Sommer and Christian Büchel

NeuroImage Nord, Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany

Address correspondence to Dr Michael Rose, NeuroImage Nord, Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, D-20246 Hamburg, Germany. Email: rose{at}uke.uni-hamburg.de.

The integration of different visual attributes into the percept of a single global shape is a central aspect of object processing. In hierarchically organized stimuli with local and global levels, the attentional focus largely determines which level is processed. Here we tested the hypothesis that object processing during attention to the global aspect of the stimulus is characterized by an increased neural coupling between visual areas reflecting the integration of local features. In the present experiment, we used global letters that were constructed by smaller local letters, and a cue signaled which spatial level should be identified. On the local level, only 1 relevant letter was presented laterally in 1 visual hemifield. In contrast, the global letter extended into both hemifields, and the integration of information from both hemispheres was necessary to identify the global stimulus. Therefore, we expected an increased functional coupling between hemispheres during global processing. This hypothesis was investigated using electroencephalographic recordings and an analysis of phase locking and coherence. The results show that stimulus-locked neural coupling within the gamma band (30–40 Hz) across hemispheres in visual cortex increased for global processing after stimulus presentation and could therefore reflect the integration of local visual information.

Key Words: attention • binding • EEG • gamma band • perception


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