Communications Biology - Magnetoencephalography in human participants paired with Rapid Invisible Frequency Tagging reveals that excitability in early visual cortex is modulated to boost targets...

Workshop Overview The Human Neocortical Neurosolver (HNN) is a user-friendly software tool for interpreting the cell and circuit level origin of human MEG and EEG signals. In this virtual event, we ...

The Summer Workshop on the Dynamic Brain is an intensive, project-based residential course with a focus on the neurobiology of sensory processing, coding, and neural population dynamics.

Various neuroscientific theories maintain that brain oscillations are important for neuronal computation, but opposing views claim that these macroscale dynamics are ‘exhaust fumes’ of more relevant processes. Here, we approach the question of whether oscillations are functional or epiphenomenal by distinguishing between measurements and processes, and by reviewing whether causal or inferentially useful links exist between field potentials, electric fields, and neurobiological events. We introduce a vocabulary for the role of brain signals and their underlying processes, demarcating oscillations as a distinct entity where both processes and measurements can exhibit periodicity. Leveraging this distinction, we suggest that electric fields, oscillating or not, are causally and computationally relevant, and that field potential signals can carry information even without causality.

Enhanced gamma activity (30-100Hz) coincides with the successful recall of episodic memories, but it remains unknown whether this oscillatory activity is a cause or a consequence of the retrieval proc...

The role of alpha oscillations (8–13 Hz) in suppressing distractors is extensively debated. One debate concerns whether alpha oscillations suppress anticipated visual distractors through increased power. Whereas some studies suggest that alpha oscillations support distractor suppression, others do not. We identify methodological differences that may explain these discrepancies. A second debate concerns the mechanistic role of alpha oscillations. We and others previously proposed that alpha oscillations implement gain reduction in early visual regions when target load or distractor interference is high. Here, we suggest that parietal alpha oscillations support gating or stabilization of attentional focus and that alpha oscillations in ventral attention network (VAN) support resistance to attention capture. We outline future studies needed to uncover the precise mechanistic role of alpha oscillations.