P-CYCLES · Perceptual Cycles: Exploring and controlling the perceptual consequences of brain rhythms

Many current theories implicate brain oscillations in perception, attention, consciousness or memory. This, however, has one critical implication that is often overlooked in cognitive sciences: if a perceptual function relies on an oscillatory basis, then it should operate periodically, as a sequence of successive episodes or 'snapshots', with more or less favourable moments recurring at a well-defined periodicity. The present project aims to explore the validity and the consequences of this groundbreaking notion of ""rhythmic perception"". Whereas current research links perceptual functions to relatively slow changes of oscillatory amplitude, we propose to investigate the perceptual consequences of brain rhythms at the rapid time scale of the oscillatory cycle –the notion of ""perceptual cycles"". In work-package (WP) 1, we will explore the range of perceptual and cognitive operations that depend on oscillatory neural implementations, and reveal their cyclic behaviour. In WP2, we will relate these perceptual and cognitive cycles to the underlying neural activities by means of brain imaging techniques (EEG, fMRI, TMS)