RT Journal
A1 Hetenyi, Dorottya
A1 Haarsma, Joost
A1 Kok, Peter
T1 Contents of Visual Predictions Oscillate at Alpha Frequencies
JF The Journal of Neuroscience 
JO The Journal of Neuroscience 
YR 2025 
FD December 03 
VO 45 
IS 49 
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0474-25.2025 
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/45/49/e0474252025.abstract 
AB Predictions of future events have a major impact on how we process sensory signals. However, it remains unclear how the brain keeps predictions online in anticipation of future inputs. Here, we combined magnetoencephalography (MEG) and multivariate decoding techniques to investigate the content of perceptual predictions and their frequency characteristics. Thirty-two participants (23 female) were engaged in a shape discrimination task, while auditory cues predicted which specific shape would likely appear. Frequency analysis revealed significant oscillatory fluctuations of predicted shape representations in the pre-stimulus window in the alpha band (10–11 Hz). Furthermore, we found that this stimulus-specific alpha power was linked to expectation effects on shape discrimination behavior. Our findings demonstrate that sensory predictions are embedded in pre-stimulus alpha oscillations and modulate subsequent perceptual performance, providing a neural mechanism through which the brain deploys perceptual predictions.