Involuntary orienting of attention to a sound desynchronizes the occipital alpha rhythm and improves visual perception

- Peripheral sounds elicit lateralized desynchronization of the occipital alpha rhythm.
- Sound-induced alpha desynchronization strongly predicts visual discrimination accuracy.
- Lateralized alpha desynchronization reflects the involuntary orienting of attention.
- Alpha modulations for involuntary attention differ from voluntary attention.

Directing attention voluntarily to the location of a visual target results in an amplitude reduction (desynchronization) of the occipital alpha rhythm (8-14 Hz), which is predictive of improved perceptual processing of the target. Here we investigated whether modulations of the occipital alpha rhythm triggered by the involuntary orienting of attention to a salient but spatially non-predictive sound would similarly influence perception of a subsequent visual target. Target discrimination was more accurate when a sound preceded the target at the same location (validly cued trials) than when the sound was on the side opposite to the target (invalidly cued trials). This behavioral effect was accompanied by a sound-induced desynchronization of the alpha rhythm over the lateral occipital scalp. The magnitude of alpha desynchronization over the hemisphere contralateral to the sound predicted correct discriminations of validly cued targets but not of invalidly cued targets. These results support the conclusion that cue-induced alpha desynchronization over the occipital cortex is a manifestation of a general priming mechanism that improves visual processing and that this mechanism can be activated either by the voluntary or involuntary orienting of attention. Further, the observed pattern of alpha modulations preceding correct and incorrect discriminations of valid and invalid targets suggests that involuntary orienting to the non-predictive sound has a rapid and purely facilitatory influence on processing targets on the cued side, with no inhibitory influence on targets on the opposite side.