Data from: Neural mechanisms of rhythm-based temporal prediction: delta phase-locking reflects temporal predictability but not rhythmic entrainment

Predicting the timing of upcoming events enables efficient resource allocation and action preparation. Rhythmic streams, such as music, speech, and biological motion, constitute a pervasive source for temporal predictions. Widely accepted entrainment theories postulate that rhythm-based predictions are mediated by synchronizing low-frequency neural oscillations to the rhythm, as indicated by increased phase concentration (PC) of low-frequency neural activity for rhythmic compared to random streams. However, we show here that PC enhancement in scalp recordings is not specific to rhythms but is observed to the same extent in less periodic streams if they enable memory-based prediction. This is inconsistent with the predictions of a computational entrainment model of stronger PC for rhythmic streams. Anticipatory change in alpha activity and facilitation of electroencephalogram (EEG) manifestations of response selection are also comparable between rhythm- and memory-based predictions. However, rhythmic sequences uniquely result in obligatory depression of preparation-related premotor brain activity when an on-beat event is omitted, even when it is strategically beneficial to maintain preparation, leading to larger behavioral costs for violation of prediction. Thus, while our findings undermine the validity of PC as a sign of rhythmic entrainment, they constitute the first electrophysiological dissociation, to our knowledge, between mechanisms of rhythmic predictions and of memory-based predictions: the former obligatorily lead to resonance-like preparation patterns (that are in line with entrainment), while the latter allow flexible resource allocation in time regardless of periodicity in the input. Taken together, they delineate the neural mechanisms of three distinct modes of preparation: continuous vigilance, interval-timing-based prediction and rhythm-based prediction.预测即将发生事件的时间节点，可实现高效的资源分配与行动筹备。音乐、语音、生物运动等节律性信息流（rhythmic streams），是时序预测的一类普遍来源。被广泛接纳的节律同步理论（entrainment theories）提出，基于节律的预测是通过将低频神经振荡与目标节律同步来介导实现的，相关依据为：相较于随机信息流，节律信息流对应的低频神经活动具有更高的相位集中度（phase concentration, PC）。然而本研究表明，头皮脑电记录中的相位集中度提升并非节律信息流所独有：若信息流可支持基于记忆的预测，即使是周期性较弱的信息流，其相位集中度提升程度也与节律信息流相当。这一结果与“节律信息流会带来更强相位集中度”的计算性同步模型的预测不符。α频段脑活动的预期变化与反应选择的脑电图（electroencephalogram, EEG）表征易化，在基于节律的预测与基于记忆的预测之间也无显著差异。但唯独节律序列会在遗漏节拍事件时，强制性地抑制与筹备相关的运动前脑区活动——即便此时维持筹备状态在策略上更为有利，这会导致预测违背时产生更大的行为代价。因此，尽管本研究结论否定了“相位集中度可作为节律同步标志”的观点，但据我们所知，本研究首次实现了基于节律的预测与基于记忆的预测的神经生理学解离：前者会强制性地产生契合同步理论的共振式筹备活动，而后者则允许根据时间灵活分配资源，不受输入信号周期性的限制。综上，本研究阐明了三类截然不同的筹备模式的神经机制：持续警觉、基于间隔计时的预测，以及基于节律的预测。