Camila Zambone C. Da Silva was a recipient of graduate fellowships from FAPESP (grant 07/56280-0). “
“The author name of Cynthia Shannon Weickert was published incorrectly as Cynthia Shannon Weicker. The correct author name is Cynthia Shannon Weickert. “
“The aim of this paper is to present a theory that tries to bridge the gap between ongoing oscillatory brain activity in the alpha frequency range and the generation of early components of the visual event-related

potential (ERP). It is suggested that early ERP components – and the P1 in particular – are generated at least in part by oscillations in the alpha frequency range (cf. Klimesch et al., 2007a, Klimesch et al., 2007b and Sauseng PLX3397 clinical trial et al., 2007 for an extensive discussion and review of this issue). Thus, CH5424802 research buy we start with a brief outline of the functionality

of alpha in this section. Then, in Section 2, we discuss the functionality of the P1 in relation to alpha on the basis of a brief selective literature review. In Section 3, the details of the proposed theory are presented, and its explanatory power and predictions are discussed. The central hypothesis thereby is that the P1 amplitude reflects inhibition that enables the suppression of task irrelevant and potentially competing processes. Finally, in Section 4, we focus on a variety of implications of this theory with respect to cognitive and physiological check details processes. The proposed theory is based on two general assumptions about the generation and modulation of the visual P1 component. (1) The first assumption relates the P1 component to alpha oscillations and comprises three aspects: (1a) The P1 is generated and modulated at least in part by alpha oscillations. The inhibition-timing hypothesis is the central link between the inferred (physiological and cognitive) functionality of alpha and the P1. Thus, we start with a brief summary of this hypothesis (see Klimesch et al. 2007a for an extensive review). The central idea is that alpha reflects inhibitory processes

(operating under top–down control or in a default like mode) that control cortical activation. Alpha amplitude (or power) is associated with a certain level of inhibition whereas phase reflects the time and direction of a rhythmic change in inhibition (build up of and release from inhibition). For event-related processes and the generation of early ERP components we assume that alpha phase reorganization will be a powerful mechanism for the event-related timing of cortical processes that underlie the generation of the P1 (cf. Klimesch et al., 2007b). With respect to its cognitive functionality, we have suggested that alpha reflects a basic processing mode that controls the flow of information in the cortex of the human brain (Klimesch et al., 2007a and Klimesch et al., 2007b).