@article{THESIS,
      recid = {1834},
      author = {Foster, Joshua James},
      title = {Alpha-Band Oscillations Track Spatial Priority in the  Human Brain},
      publisher = {University of Chicago},
      school = {Ph.D.},
      address = {2019-06},
      number = {THESIS},
      pages = {163},
      abstract = {Spatial selection plays a central role in visual  cognition, allowing us to prioritize processing at relevant  locations. An emerging view is that alpha-band (8–12 Hz)  oscillations play a key role in this core cognitive  process. In this dissertation, I show that alpha-band  oscillations track spatial priority with remarkable spatial  and temporal resolution, and across a range of contexts. To  this end, I develop an encoding model approach to  reconstruct spatially selective response profiles (called  channel-tuning functions, or CTFs) from alpha-band power  measured with EEG. These alpha-band CTFs reflect the  spatial selectivity of the population-level activity that  is measured with EEG. In Chapter 2, I show that alpha  activity precisely tracks the locus of attention, and that  the time course of this activity tracks trial-by-trial  variations in the latency of covert orienting, establishing  it as a powerful means of tracking the temporal dynamics of  covert spatial attention. In Chapter 3, I show that alpha  activity precisely encodes spatial positions held in  working memory, consistent with the broad hypothesis that  there is considerable functional overlap between attention  and working memory. In Chapter 4, I show that alpha  activity tracks the spatial position of non-spatial  memoranda held in working memory, even when space is wholly  irrelevant to the task, suggesting that spatial attention  is also recruited during the maintenance of non-spatial  features in working memory. Finally, having established a  tight link between alpha oscillations and spatial  selection, in Chapter 5 I examine the consequences of  spatial attention. Here, I show that spatial attention  increases the amplitude of population-level representations  of stimulus position. Together, these studies establish  that alpha-band oscillations enable spatially and  temporally resolved tracking of spatial attention, and  highlights the central role that spatial attention plays in  a range of cognitive contexts.},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/1834},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.6082/uchicago.1834},
}