IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v397y1999i6718d10.1038_17120.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perception's shadow: long-distance synchronization of human brain activity

Author

Listed:
  • Eugenio Rodriguez

    (Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Imagerie Cérbréale (LENA))

  • Nathalie George

    (Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Imagerie Cérbréale (LENA))

  • Jean-Philippe Lachaux

    (Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Imagerie Cérbréale (LENA))

  • Jacques Martinerie

    (Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Imagerie Cérbréale (LENA))

  • Bernard Renault

    (Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Imagerie Cérbréale (LENA))

  • Francisco J. Varela

    (Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives et Imagerie Cérbréale (LENA))

Abstract

Transient periods of synchronization of oscillating neuronal discharges in the frequency range 30–80 Hz (gamma oscillations) have been proposed to act as an integrative mechanism that may bring a widely distributed set of neurons together into a coherent ensemble that underlies a cognitive act1,2,3,4. Results of several experiments in animals provide support for this idea (see, for example, refs 4,5,6,7,8,9,10). In humans, gamma oscillations have been described both on the scalp11,12,13,14,15,16 (measured by electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography) and in intracortical recordings17, but no direct participation of synchrony in a cognitive task has been demonstrated so far. Here we record electrical brain activity from subjects who are viewing ambiguous visual stimuli (perceived either as faces or as meaningless shapes). We show for the first time, to our knowledge, that only face perception induces a long-distance pattern of synchronization, corresponding to the moment of perception itself and to the ensuing motor response. A period of strong desynchronization marks the transition between the moment of perception and the motor response. We suggest that this desynchronization reflects a process of active uncoupling of the underlying neural ensembles that is necessary to proceed from one cognitive state to another3.

Suggested Citation

  • Eugenio Rodriguez & Nathalie George & Jean-Philippe Lachaux & Jacques Martinerie & Bernard Renault & Francisco J. Varela, 1999. "Perception's shadow: long-distance synchronization of human brain activity," Nature, Nature, vol. 397(6718), pages 430-433, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:397:y:1999:i:6718:d:10.1038_17120
    DOI: 10.1038/17120
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/17120
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/17120?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adeeti Aggarwal & Connor Brennan & Jennifer Luo & Helen Chung & Diego Contreras & Max B. Kelz & Alex Proekt, 2022. "Visual evoked feedforward–feedback traveling waves organize neural activity across the cortical hierarchy in mice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Wu, Huagan & Bian, Yixuan & Zhang, Yunzhen & Guo, Yixuan & Xu, Quan & Chen, Mo, 2023. "Multi-stable states and synchronicity of a cellular neural network with memristive activation function," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    3. Wu, Yong & Ding, Qianming & Huang, Weifang & Hu, Xueyan & Ye, Zhiqiu & Jia, Ya, 2024. "Dynamic modulation of external excitation enhance synchronization in complex neuronal network," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    4. Hu, Xueyan & Ding, Qianming & Wu, Yong & Huang, Weifang & Yang, Lijian & Jia, Ya, 2024. "Dynamical rewiring promotes synchronization in memristive FitzHugh-Nagumo neuronal networks," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    5. Cao, Haoyu & Yang, Zhiyin & Liu, Zonghua, 2023. "Remote synchronization in multi-layered community networks with star-like topology," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:397:y:1999:i:6718:d:10.1038_17120. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.