2012 Volume 30 Issue 3 Pages 243-254
Visual search studies demonstrated that greater phase synchrony in the 22-34 Hz (lower) frequency band contributes to spatial allocation of attention in a top-down manner, where synchrony in the 36-56 Hz (higher) frequency band relates to bottom-up attention. However, no empirical evidence has been found for such a relationship between the synchronizing frequency band and other attention tasks, such as top-down and bottom-up control of temporal attention. The present study assessed the lower and higher frequency band synchronization during an attentional blink (AB) task. In this task, it is thought that successful top-down attentional control is responsible for an AB. Results showed that synchronization of the lower frequency band was less when the AB did not occur. It was suggested that phase synchronization in the 22-34 Hz frequency bands plays a critical role not only in spatial but also in temporal attention.
