Face or House Image Perception: Beta and Gamma Bands of Oscillations in Brain Networks Carry Out Decision-Making

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have consistently shown that perception of visual objects, such as faces and houses, involves distributed brain networks that include the fusiform face area (FFA), parahippocampal place area (PPA), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). These regions are commonly observed to be coactivated in BOLD measurements during perception of visual objects. In this study, we aimed to disentangle node-level and network-level activities in millisecond timescale of perception and decision-making in attempts to answer questions about timing and frequency of brain oscillatory activities. We used clear and noisy face-house image categorization tasks and human scalp electroencephalography recordings combined with source reconstruction techniques to study when and how oscillatory activity organizes within the FFA, PPA, and DLPFC. We uncovered the dynamics of two oscillatory networks-beta (13-30 Hz) and gamma (30-100 Hz). In beta band, the node and network activities were enhanced in time frame of 125-250 msec after stimulus onset, the FFA and PPA acted as main outflow hubs and the DLPFC as a main inflow hub, and network activities negatively correlated with behavior measures of noise levels (response times). In gamma band, node and network activities were elevated in time frame of 0-125 msec after stimulus onset, the DLPFC acted as a main outflow hub, and finally network activities were positively correlated with the noise level. These findings broaden our understanding of temporal evolution of node and network features associated with visual perceptual decision-making.