Neural oscillations underlying behavior: adjustments after commission errors and temporal judgements

van Viegen, Tara ORCID: 0000-0001-6109-1004 (2020). Neural oscillations underlying behavior: adjustments after commission errors and temporal judgements. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

The current thesis aimed to: 1) explore whether alpha peak frequency (APF) as measured with electroencephalography (EEG) might be indicative of an internal clock. No systematic relationship between APF and temporal decision making was found, which suggests that a straightforward interpretation of APF reflecting the brain’s internal clock is too simplistic. 2) examine the role of oscillatory power on performance monitoring and temporal decision making. We found no evidence that medial frontal cortex used oscillatory power to influence subsequent processing in down-stream regions after an error was committed. Instead, we found phase-based connectivity after an error although the implications on behavioral adjustments remain unexplored. In the temporal decision making experiments we found increased theta power in correct compared to incorrect judgements after the short time interval had elapsed, which might suggest that theta power reflects evidence accumulation of temporal information. 3) examine the role of climbing neural activity in temporal decision making as reflected by slow evoked potentials (SEPs) in the EEG. No consistent evidence across the different experiments was observed, which suggests that SEPs do not reflect temporal evidence accumulation in the current time estimation task and differences are instead reflected in theta power differences.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):