Fronto-central theta oscillations are related to oscillations in saccadic response times (SRT): an EEG and behavioral data analysis.

The phase reset hypothesis states that the phase of an ongoing neural oscillation, reflecting periodic fluctuations in neural activity between states of high and low excitability, can be shifted by the occurrence of a sensory stimulus so that the phase value become highly constant across trials (Schroeder et al., 2008). From EEG/MEG studies it has been hypothesized that coupled oscillatory activity in primary sensory cortices regulates multi sensory processing (Senkowski et al.

Saccadic reaction times to audiovisual stimuli show effects of oscillatory phase reset.

Initiating an eye movement towards a suddenly appearing visual target is faster when an accessory auditory stimulus occurs in close spatiotemporal vicinity. Such facilitation of saccadic reaction time (SRT) is well-documented, but the exact neural mechanisms underlying the crossmodal effect remain to be elucidated. From EEG/MEG studies it has been hypothesized that coupled oscillatory activity in primary sensory cortices regulates multisensory processing.

Assessing age-related multisensory enhancement with the time-window-of-integration model.

Although from multisensory research a great deal is known about how the different senses interact, there is little knowledge as to the impact of aging on these multisensory processes. In this study, we measured saccadic reaction time (SRT) of aged and young individuals to the onset of a visual target stimulus with and without an accessory auditory stimulus occurring (focused attention task). The response time pattern for both groups was similar: mean SRT to bimodal stimuli was generally shorter than to unimodal stimuli, and mean bimodal SRT was shorter when the auditory accessory was presented ipsilaterally rather than contralaterally to the target.