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Updated: Oct 2, 2025
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Detecting Pre-Stimulus Source-Level Effects on Object Perception with Magnetoencephalography
Published on: July 26, 2019
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Neural entrainment via perceptual inferences
Alessandro Tavano1, Burkhard Maess2, David Poeppel3,4
1Department of Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
The European Journal of Neuroscience
|February 22, 2022
Summary
Auditory entrainment, the brain
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Auditory Perception
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Neural entrainment relies on temporal regularity of stimulus onset for phase resetting.
- Distinguishing temporal regularity from feature predictability in entrainment is challenging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if spectral regularities, alongside temporal ones, influence auditory entrainment strength.
- To examine the role of perceptual inferences based on deviant sound repetition probability.
Main Methods:
- Recorded electroencephalography (EEG) from 15 participants.
- Presented auditory sequences with varying repetition probabilities (100%, 75%, 50%) to create different perceptual inference strengths.
- Stimuli were delivered at delta (1.67 Hz) and theta (6.67 Hz) rates, both isochronously and anisochronously.
Main Results:
- Strong perceptual inferences (100% repetition) significantly enhanced neural entrainment.
- Positive correlations were found between phase distribution precision and entrained power for deviant trials.
- Entrainment enhancement occurred irrespective of stimulation rate (delta or theta) or temporal regularity (isochronous vs. anisochronous).
Conclusions:
- Both spectral predictability and temporal regularity are key determinants of auditory entrainment.
- Neural phase control is modulated by these predictability and regularity factors.
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