Top-Down Beta Oscillatory Signaling Conveys Behavioral Context to Primary Visual Cortex

Top-down modulation of sensory processing is a critical neural mechanism subserving a number of important cognitive roles. Principally, top-down influences appear to inform lower-order sensory systems of the current task at hand, and thus may convey behavioral context to these systems. Accumulating evidence indicates that top-down cortical influences are carried by directed interareal synchronization of oscillatory neuronal populations. An important question currently under investigation by a number of laboratories is whether the information conveyed by directed interareal synchronization depends on the frequency band in which it is conveyed. Recent results point to the beta frequency band a