@article {3440, title = {Cortical alpha activity predicts the confidence in an impending action.}, journal = {Front. Neurosci}, year = {2015}, month = {07/2015}, abstract = {When we make a decision, we experience a degree of confidence that our choice may lead to a desirable outcome. Recent studies in animals have probed the subjective aspects of the choice confidence using confidence-reporting tasks. These studies showed that estimates of the choice confidence substantially modulate neural activity in multiple regions of the brain. Building on these findings, we investigated the neural representation of the confidence in a choice in humans who explicitly reported the confidence in their choice. Subjects performed a perceptual decision task in which they decided between choosing a button press or a saccade while we recorded EEG activity. Following each choice, subjects indicated whether they were sure or unsure about the choice. We found that alpha activity strongly encodes a subject{\textquoteright}s confidence level in a forthcoming button press choice. The neural effect of the subjects{\textquoteright} confidence was independent of the reaction time and independent of the sensory input modeled as a decision variable. Furthermore, the effect is not due to a general cognitive state, such as reward expectation, because the effect was specifically observed during button press choices and not during saccade choices. The neural effect of the confidence in the ensuing button press choice was strong enough that we could predict, from independent single trial neural signals, whether a subject was going to be sure or unsure of an ensuing button press choice. In sum, alpha activity in human cortex provides a window into the commitment to make a hand movement.}, keywords = {certainty, EEG, human, neural correlates, perceptual decision-making}, doi = {10.3389/fnins.2015.00243}, url = {http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2015.00243/abstract}, author = {Kub{\'a}nek, J and Jeremy Jeremy Hill and Snyder, Lawrence H. and Gerwin Schalk} } @article {2210, title = {Temporal evolution of gamma activity in human cortex during an overt and covert word repetition task.}, journal = {Front Hum Neurosci}, volume = {6}, year = {2012}, month = {05/2012}, pages = {99}, abstract = {

Several scientists have proposed different models for cortical processing of speech. Classically, the regions participating in language were thought to be modular with a linear sequence of activations. More recently, modern theoretical models have posited a more hierarchical and distributed interaction of anatomic areas for the various stages of speech processing. Traditional imaging techniques can only define the location or time of cortical activation, which impedes the further evaluation and refinement of these models. In this study, we take advantage of recordings from the surface of the brain [electrocorticography (ECoG)], which can accurately detect the location and timing of cortical activations, to study the time course of ECoG high gamma (HG) modulations during an overt and covert word repetition task for different cortical areas. For overt word production, our results show substantial perisylvian cortical activations early in the perceptual phase of the task that were maintained through word articulation. However, this broad activation is attenuated during the expressive phase of covert word repetition. Across the different repetition tasks, the utilization of the different cortical sites within the perisylvian region varied in the degree of activation dependent on which stimulus was provided (auditoryor visual cue) and whether the word was to be spoken or imagined. Taken together, the data support current models of speech that have been previously described with functional imaging. Moreover, this study demonstrates that the broad perisylvian speech network activates early and maintains suprathreshold activation throughout the word repetition task that appears to be modulated by the demands of different conditions.

}, keywords = {cortex, Electrocorticography, gamma rhythms, human, Speech}, issn = {1662-5161}, doi = {10.3389/fnhum.2012.00099}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22563311}, author = {Leuthardt, E C and Pei, Xiao-Mei and Breshears, Jonathan and Charles M Gaona and Sharma, Mohit and Zachary V. Freudenberg and Barbour, Dennis L and Gerwin Schalk} }