Rhythmic motor activity alleviates auditory attentional blinks

Abstract

Effective sensory processing relies on both attention and the motor system, yet whether motor activity could provide attention-like functions to regulate perception remains unknown. We hypothesized that rhythmic motor signals could provide phasic regulation of prioritizing and sampling perceptual targets. Using an auditory attentional blink paradigm that created a temporal deficit in selective attention, we found that temporally aligned finger tapping improved the probe detection during the attentional blink window but impaired performance when attentional resources were abundant. Furthermore, transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) over the right sensorimotor cortex alleviated attentional blink when the probe was close to the peak of the stimulation, whereas stimulation over the left aggravated attentional blink when the probe was close to the trough. These results suggest that the motor system is a resource-dependent rhythmic regulator of attentional sampling. Motor signals can override attentional bottlenecks, suggesting the motor system as an active shaper of cognitive processes.