Anticipatory control of long-range phase synchronization.

Everyday human behaviour relies on our ability to predict outcomes on the basis of moment by moment information. Long-range neural phase synchronization has been hypothesized as a mechanism by which 'predictions' can exert an effect on the processing of incoming sensory events. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) we have studied the relationship between the modulation of phase synchronization in a cerebral network of areas involved in visual target processing and the predictability of target occurrence.

Image-to-sound conversion: experience-induced plasticity in auditory cortex of blindfolded adults.

The ability to adapt to environmental changes is based on the impressive capacity of the central nervous system for plasticity changes. A better understanding of the requirements of neuroplasticity will help to apprehend and predict the success of sensory prostheses. To investigate neuroplastic changes associated with (1) blindfolding and (2) the use of a mobile visual-auditory substitution system, five normally sighted adults underwent weekly measurements of neuromagnetic activity using a 122-channel whole head neuromagnetometer.

Modulation of long-range neural synchrony reflects temporal limitations of visual attention in humans.

Because of attentional limitations, the human visual system can process for awareness and response only a fraction of the input received. Lesion and functional imaging studies have identified frontal, temporal, and parietal areas as playing a major role in the attentional control of visual processing, but very little is known about how these areas interact to form a dynamic attentional network. We hypothesized that the network communicates by means of neural phase synchronization, and we used magnetoencephalography to study transient long-range interarea phase coupling in a well studied attentionally taxing dual-target task (attentional blink).