Abstract
Neural oscillations in alpha (8–12 Hz) and beta (13–30 Hz) frequency bands are thought to reflect feedback/reentrant loops and large-scale cortical interactions. In the last decades a main effort has been made in linking perception with alpha-band oscillations, with converging evidence showing that alpha oscillations have a key role in the temporal and featural binding of visual input, configuring the alpha rhythm a key determinant of conscious visual experience. Less attention has been historically dedicated to link beta oscillations and visual processing. Nonetheless, increasing studies report that task conditions that require to segregate/integrate stimuli in space, to disentangle local/global shapes, to spatially reorganize visual inputs, and to achieve motion perception or form-motion integration, rely on the activity of beta oscillations, with a main hub in parietal areas. In the present review, we summarize the evidence linking oscillations within the beta band and visual perception. We propose that beta oscillations represent a neural code that supports the functionality of the magnocellular-dorsal (M-D) visual pathway, serving as a fast primary neural code to exert top-down influences on the slower parvocellular-ventral visual pathway activity. Such M-D-related beta activity is proposed to act mainly pre-consciously, providing the spatial coordinates of vision and guiding the conscious extraction of objects identity that are achieved with slower alpha rhythms in ventral areas. Finally, within this new theoretical framework, we discuss the potential role of M-D-related beta oscillations in visuo-spatial attention, oculo-motor behavior and reading (dis)abilities.
Introduction
Oscillatory activity in the alpha, beta and gamma frequency range (alpha: 8–12 Hz, beta: 15–30 Hz, gamma: 30–80 Hz), have been previously extensively linked to perceptual processes, and also higher-level visual cognition (Tallon-Baudry and Bertrand, 1999; Womelsdorf et al., 2006; ; ; ; Tan et al., 2013). Their precise role is still matter of intense scientific investigation, but a widely supported idea is that while activity at higher frequency (gamma) would reflect feed-forward stimulus processing restricted to local neural ensembles, activity modulation at lower frequency (alpha and beta) would reflect feedback/reentrant loops and large-scale cortical interactions (; ; ; Sherman et al., 2016; ; ).
Alpha oscillations have been framed as the fundamental rhythm of conscious perception, shaping the internal experience of the sensory world (Valera et al., 1981; VanRullen, 2016; ; ). Several studies showed that different parameters (e.g., power, phase, frequency) of alpha oscillations determine diverse aspects of visual perception (for recent reviews see: ; ; ; ; Samaha and Romei, 2023). In line with theoretical proposals that hypothesize a role for alpha oscillations in the temporal sampling of visual information (VanRullen, 2016; ), the speed of alpha oscillations has been found to act as a pacer determining sensory sampling in the brain (; Samaha and Postle, 2015; ; ). Relatedly, the phase of alpha oscillations can determine whether visual signals on a sub-second temporal scale will be temporally integrated or segregated (Wutz et al., 2014; Wutz and Melcher, 2014; , ; ). Furthermore, the integrative function of alpha oscillations also operates across features of visual objects. By acting over large scale networks, alpha oscillations would integrate different object features (e.g., orientation, color) which are processed in segregated and specialized brain areas, into one unitary percept (Zhang et al., 2019; ).
The role of beta oscillations in perception is much less documented. Nonetheless, mounting evidence in the last decade has linked this oscillatory rhythm to different visual phenomena. In this review, we will try to summarize this emerging literature highlighting the peculiar conditions under which beta oscillations are modulated in visual tasks, its possible functional meaning and its putative neuroanatomical networks. We will propose that beta is likely to be the rhythm of the dorsal (“where”) visual pathway, which would act as a fast track that provides the spatial coordinates for visual perception, acting at a preconscious level to guide the active construction of stimulus identity in the ventral (“what”) stream areas, and plan action (e.g., eye movements) accordingly.
Spatial integration/segregation and dorsal-to-ventral guidance in perception
The parvocellular-ventral (P-V) and the magnocellular-dorsal (M-D) streams are the two major visual pathways. The P-V stream is characterized by both lower temporal resolution and superior sensitivity to high spatial frequencies, and it is also sensitive to color changes (; ); it is responsible for object identity extraction (). The M-D stream is the other major visual pathway starting from the retina and projecting to occipital and parietal cortices via the M-layer of the lateral geniculate nucleus ().
The M-D stream is considered to be color-blind, responds to subtle differences in luminance contrast, and is highly sensitive to low spatial and high temporal frequencies of visual stimulation, thus being the primary pathway for processing motion (; ). Moreover, the M-D stream is considered having a central role for contour integration and segregation. There are computational and theoretical reasons indicating that spatial grouping is likely achieved by an interplay between feedforward and feedback activity within the visual system (; ). While the feedforward connections would promote the representation of visual features within a spatial map (Tootell et al., 1998), feedback activity from higher-level regions would promote the selection of targets according to their spatial location (). Specifically, fast bottom-up projections to the M-D stream would provide coarse spatial representations facilitating, via recursive feedback from the parietal cortex, the slower and attention-demanding objects identification in ventral stream areas (Vidyasagar, 1999, 2004; ; Vidyasagar and Pammer, 2010). Such dorsal-to-ventral communication is thought to promote the activation of receptive fields of appropriate size, resulting in an effective segregation of relevant input ().
Because of the poor spatial resolution of representations carried by the dorsal stream, when encountering spatially complex displays, such as in the case of visually crowded elements, the parietal cortex may erroneously promote binding between targets and irrelevant flankers (). That would also explain why stimuli that preferentially activate the M-D stream appear to be more vulnerable to visual crowding effect ().
When there is the opposing need for spatial integration, such as when solving a contour integration problem, information is bidirectionally exchanged between lateral occipital (i.e., LO1) and parietal regions (i.e., intraparietal sulcus) (). While LO1 would preferentially respond to orientation () and collinearity () of local elements, synchronization of this region with the parietal cortex would provide a spatial reference by enhancing LO1 neurons firing rates in the relevant locations ().
Beta oscillations as the “natural” rhythm of parietal areas
Converging evidence argues for a spatial and functional predominance of beta oscillations in parietal cortices, framing beta as the “natural” rhythm of such networks (; ). With a data-driven approach applied to MEG and MRI data from the Open MEG Archive (OMEGA, ), developed a voxel-by-voxel atlas of natural frequencies in the resting brain. They showed that the sources of beta oscillations were distributed following a posterior-to-anterior gradient (see Figure 1) showing low-beta (~15–18 Hz) being generated mostly by lateral occipito-parietal regions (Superior Occipital, Middle Occipital, Superior Parietal, and Post-Central Gyri), while high beta oscillations were located in motor (~20 Hz, Pre- and Post-Central Gyri) and prefrontal areas (~20–30 Hz, Middle Frontal Gyrus), corroborating previous findings by . A complementary approach to unveil region-specific spectral patterns consists in perturbing endogenous oscillations via electrical/magnetic stimulation and recording the EEG response. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can be used to transiently increase cortical excitability over specific cortical areas, enhancing their spontaneous oscillatory activity. Samaha et al. (2017) employed this approach and showed that when TMS was delivered to occipital areas, pre-stimulation alpha power predicted TMS-induced phosphenes perception; contrarily, when TMS was delivered to the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), it was the prestimulation beta power to be predictive of phosphenes perception.
Figure 1
Beta oscillations along the frontoparietal network control spatial attention and eye movements
The M-D stream has direct projections also from early visual cortices to prefrontal cortices (PFC) in primates (
Modulations of beta oscillations in the fronto-parietal network occur in relation to different visual attention tasks. In particular, beta-band global power at resting state showed correlations with fronto-parietal connectivity and behavioral performance at visual search and gun shooting tasks (
The predominance of beta functional connectivity along the dorsal visual pathway highlights the relevance of beta oscillations for visual perception, considering also the role of the fronto-parietal network along the M-D stream in the generation of saccadic eye movements. Indeed, saccades depend on the activity of the lateral intraparietal cortex (LIP) in the PPC, responsible for directing spatial attention, and the FEF, responsible for sending motor signal to the superior colliculus, a visuomotor integrative relay innervating the brainstem (
The aforementioned studies frame beta-oscillations within the M-D stream as the core brain rhythm subserving action-oriented behavior, from the orientation of spatial attention, to reaching a target object with gaze and limbs. To this regard, it is important to mention that beta oscillations have been associated with a general mechanism for the maintenance of a motor and/or cognitive state (
Oscillations in the beta band and visuo-spatial perception: correlational and causal evidence
Mounting evidence highlighted a relationship between beta-band activity and perceptual phenomena that require different levels of spatial analysis. Indeed, modulations of beta-band oscillations have been associated with perceptual reorganization (
Further, in a visual crowding task employing letter stimuli,
The aforementioned studies provide important correlational evidence about the role of beta oscillations in visuo-spatial perception. However, casual links should be inferred when behavioral changes are observed following a direct modulation of neural oscillations. Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) represents one promising medium to achieve this purpose for its capacity to modulate the activity of specific frequency bands via neuronal entrainment (
The relevance of beta-band oscillations in fronto-parietal regions during visual perception is further corroborated by multiple transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies. Modulating beta oscillations via repetitive TMS (rTMS) in right parietal cortex facilitated local processing in a Navon task (
The role of beta oscillations in reading, developmental dyslexia, and related visuo-attentional impairments
The functions of the M-D stream are crucial for reading and its acquisition (Vidyasagar and Pammer, 2010;
Collectively, these findings suggest that the study of beta oscillations’ functional role in the dorsal stream might foster the development of new treatment approaches to visuo-attentional and reading impairment, possibly aiming at modulations of beta-band activity.
Reconciling old and new perspectives for beta oscillations in visual perception
In their seminal work,
Capitalizing on the role of beta oscillations as a rather “active” rhythm underlying interareal communication (
Such transient (burst-like) nature of beta oscillations offers the possibility to discuss previous studies linking beta oscillations and visual perception in light of less and more recent theoretical accounts. Perceptual sets (e.g., as in
Conclusion
Historically, alpha oscillations have been the most well characterized brain rhythm, and also the most studied in the context of visual perception. In the present review, we have summarized the emerging evidence showing a preliminary, but at the same time coherent, picture of the role of beta oscillations in the context of visual perception. We have shown that beta oscillations are modulated in a wide range of visual tasks that require a precise spatial representation of visual input, specifically where forming a faithful representation of its spatial coordinates is essential. These include tasks where visual elements need to be perceptually reorganized, such as in the case of bistable picture, when there is a need to switch from a global to a local level of visual analysis (and vice versa), when there is a need to spatially segregate stimuli in cluttered visual scenes, such as in the case of crowding, and finally, when there is a need to extrapolate visual motion and accomplish form-motion integration. All these are conditions where beta oscillations have been shown to play a crucial role, supporting the claim that this brain rhythm is primarily serving the activity of the magnocellular-dorsal (or “where”) visual pathway. The role of beta oscillations can be seen as complementary to the function of alpha, which would be the preferential rhythm supporting the combination of object features into longer neurocomputational cycles to merge emerging representations from distributed areas within the ventral (or “what”) visual pathway.
Framing beta-oscillations as the main rhythm of the dorsal stream has of course also implications for action-oriented behaviors (perception for action), from the orientation of spatial attention, to eyes and body movement. The proposal of beta oscillation as the rhythm of the dorsal stream reconciles the emerging evidence that beta-band rhythmic communication has a key role within the fronto-parietal dorsal attentional network. It remains an open question (Table 1) whether it is possible to differentiate a ‘perceptual’ and an ‘attentional’ beta rhythm, or whether they are orchestrated in partially different neural networks, but with a common underlying rhythmic neural code. Regarding eye and upper limb movements, increasing evidence show that beta-band oscillations in both parietal (PPC) and frontal (FEF) areas are fundamental both for saccades execution, reaching behavior and eye-hand coordination, reconciling our perspective with the idea that beta oscillations are important for the maintenance of a particular motor and/or cognitive state (
Table 1
| Open questions |
|---|
|
Open questions regarding beta oscillations in the magnocellular dorsal visual pathway.
Although there are no studies to date designed to address the relationship between beta oscillations and perceptual awareness, a reasonable speculation is that such dorsal beta activity in vision acts at a preconscious level. This seems plausible considering that it is a fast rhythm that would convey only a transient, coarse and undetailed representation of the visual scene and its spatial properties toward a more distributed network, fostering attention-demanding object identification in ventral stream areas at the speed of the (slower) alpha rhythm.
Finally, the growing literature on the role of beta oscillation in visual perception in healthy individuals is corroborated also by initial studies highlighting anomalies of beta oscillations in developmental dyslexia, a neurodevelopmental condition where the core visuo-attentional deficits are widely recognized to arise from a M-D stream deficit. Thus, targeting beta oscillations in the dorsal visual stream seems a promising new rehabilitative strategy, especially considering the different neuromodulatory (tACS/TMS) studies that have effectively modulated beta oscillations with functional consequences for perception in the typical population.
Statements
Author contributions
GD: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. LR: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Funding acquisition, Supervision.
Funding
The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work received financial support from “Fondazione Regionale per la Ricerca Biomedica” of the Region Lombardy (Early Career Award Grant to LR; ID: 1751150).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.
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Summary
Keywords
vision, beta oscillations, magnocellular dorsal stream, visual attention, spatial attention, parietal cortex, perceptual awareness
Citation
Di Dona G and Ronconi L (2023) Beta oscillations in vision: a (preconscious) neural mechanism for the dorsal visual stream?. Front. Psychol. 14:1296483. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1296483
Received
18 September 2023
Accepted
15 November 2023
Published
13 December 2023
Volume
14 - 2023
Edited by
Gregor Thut, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Reviewed by
Elie El Rassi, Radboud University, Netherlands
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© 2023 Di Dona and Ronconi.
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*Correspondence: Luca Ronconi, ronconi.luca@unisr.it
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