Effects of Task Demands on Olfactory, Auditory, and Visual Event-Related Potentials Suggest Similar Top-Down Modulation Across Senses
2018 (English)In: Chemical Senses, ISSN 0379-864X, E-ISSN 1464-3553, Vol. 43, no 2, p. 129-134, article id bjx082Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
A widely held view is that top-down modulation of sensory information relies on an amodal control network that acts through the thalamus to regulate incoming signals. Olfaction lacks a direct thalamic projection, which suggests that it may differ from other modalities in this regard. We investigated the late positive complex (LPC) amplitudes of event-related potentials (ERP) from 28 participants, elicited by intensity-matched olfactory, auditory and visual stimuli, during a condition of focused attention, a neutral condition, and a condition in which stimuli were to be actively ignored. Amplitudes were largest during the attend condition, lowest during the ignore condition, with the neutral condition in between. A Bayesian analysis resulted in strong evidence for similar effects of task across sensory modalities. We conclude that olfaction, despite its unique neural projections, does not differ from audition and vision in terms of task-dependent neural modulation of the LPC.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Oxford , 2018. Vol. 43, no 2, p. 129-134, article id bjx082
Keywords [en]
attention, audition, electrophysiology, late positive complex, olfaction, vision
National Category
Applied Psychology Occupational Health and Environmental Health
Research subject
Health-Promoting Work
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-26047DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjx082ISI: 000424225200007PubMedID: 29325013Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85041497392OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-26047DiVA, id: diva2:1176416
Funder
Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, M14-0375:1Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, 2014:01782018-01-222018-01-222025-10-15Bibliographically approved