Predicting Fast Visual Discrimination Through Slow Theta Oscillation of
Visual ERPs
Abstract
In the context of sensory processing, visual discrimination is a
fundamental function that enables survival. Previous findings suggest
that such discrimination function can be decoded from
electroencephalographic brain responses, especially by using oscillation
feature. However, how to evaluate the fast visual discrimination is
still unclear. In this study, we hypothesize that brain’s oscillatory
activity in a passive viewing condition can serve as a sensitive
predictor of fast visual discrimination. A visual multi-feature paradigm
which allowing investigation of several different change types was used
to record both event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral responses.
First, we investigated separating the behavioral hit rate as a function
of reaction time (categorized from 200 ms to 1000 ms with step of 100
ms). In the subsequent step, we extract the slow theta component from
ERP’s time frequency represents with time frequency principal component
analysis (TF-PCA) and correlate its average power with behavioral
performance. Our results showed that the significant detect window for
different deviants’ level was from 400 to 600 ms, while the hit rates in
such detect window showed a significant correlation with the averaged
time frequency power in the slow theta band during 100-300 ms latency
for the color and shape deviants. These findings suggest that the
oscillation power, particularly in the slow theta range, of the brain
responses is a predictor of fast visual discrimination.