Simulated field potentials capture multiple simultaneous processes underlying human temporal attention
- 1Yale University; University of California San Diego
Abstract
Essential cognitive processes like attention, memory, and decision-making require the brain to perform many operations simultaneously. Disentangling the neural mechanisms underlying these processes is challenging because they often unfold concurrently with similar dynamics. In auditory temporal expectation, these mechanisms include the accumulation of incoming sensory information in the auditory cortex interacting with cortical signals biasing activity in anticipation of future stimuli. Here, we leverage invasive human field potential recordings from participants performing a subjective temporal expectation task. Rather than relying on traditional neuroimaging methods that average or transform neural responses, we instead simulate each trial's predicted field potential, based on known field potential physiology combined with components of established cognitive theories of the temporal expectation task: sensory input, top-down bias, and sensory anticipation. Our predicted field potentials strongly correlate with neural activity in auditory regions and in regions associated with auditory temporal perception, including the parietal, temporal, and prefrontal cortices. By differentiating individual cognitive mechanisms through simulation, we identify neural signatures of attentional bias and anticipatory sensory activity across multiple cortical regions that predict trial-by-trial perceptual accuracy and confidence.
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BibTeX
@misc{smith2026simulated,
title = {{Simulated field potentials capture multiple simultaneous processes underlying human temporal attention}},
author = {S. E. Smith and D. Cellier and A. Rigby and B. Q. Rosen and J. C. Garrett and A. J. Simon and S. Ben-Haim and J. S. Shih and K. B. Doelling and B. Voytek},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.17.752423},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.17.752423v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Simulated field potentials capture multiple simultaneous processes underlying human temporal attention
AU - S. E. Smith
AU - D. Cellier
AU - A. Rigby
AU - B. Q. Rosen
AU - J. C. Garrett
AU - A. J. Simon
AU - S. Ben-Haim
AU - J. S. Shih
AU - K. B. Doelling
AU - B. Voytek
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/17
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.17.752423
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.17.752423v1
AB - Essential cognitive processes like attention, memory, and decision-making require the brain to perform many operations simultaneously. Disentangling the neural mechanisms underlying these processes is challenging because they often unfold concurrently with similar dynamics. In auditory temporal expectation, these mechanisms include the accumulation of incoming sensory information in the auditory cortex interacting with cortical signals biasing activity in anticipation of future stimuli. Here, we leverage invasive human field potential recordings from participants performing a subjective temporal expectation task. Rather than relying on traditional neuroimaging methods that average or transform neural responses, we instead simulate each trial's predicted field potential, based on known field potential physiology combined with components of established cognitive theories of the temporal expectation task: sensory input, top-down bias, and sensory anticipation. Our predicted field potentials strongly correlate with neural activity in auditory regions and in regions associated with auditory temporal perception, including the parietal, temporal, and prefrontal cortices. By differentiating individual cognitive mechanisms through simulation, we identify neural signatures of attentional bias and anticipatory sensory activity across multiple cortical regions that predict trial-by-trial perceptual accuracy and confidence.
ER -