Maja Dyhre Foldal

• Sabine Liliana Leske, Tor Endestad, Vegard Akselsson Volehaugen, Maja Dyhre Foldal, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann & Anne-Kristin Solbakk [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2025). Beta oscillations predict the envelope sharpness in a rhythmic beat sequence. Scientific Reports. 15(1). doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-86895-y. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Periodic sensory inputs entrain oscillatory brain activity, reflecting a neural mechanism that might be fundamental to temporal prediction and perception. Most environmental rhythms and patterns in human behavior, such as walking, dancing, and speech do not, however, display strict isochrony but are instead quasi-periodic. Research has shown that neural tracking of speech is driven by modulations of the amplitude envelope, especially via sharp acoustic edges, which serve as prominent temporal landmarks. In the same vein, research on rhythm processing in music supports the notion that perceptual timing precision varies systematically with the sharpness of acoustic onset edges, conceptualized in the beat bin hypothesis. Increased envelope sharpness induces increased precision in localizing a sound in time. Despite this tight relationship between envelope shape and temporal processing, it is currently unknown how the brain uses predictive information about envelope features to optimize temporal perception. With the current EEG study, we show that the predicted sharpness of the amplitude envelope is encoded by pre-target neural activity in the beta band (15–25 Hz), and has an impact on the temporal perception of target sounds. We used probabilistic sound cues in a timing judgment task to inform participants about the sharpness of the amplitude envelope of an upcoming target sound embedded in a beat sequence. The predictive information about the envelope shape modulated task performance and pre-target beta power. Interestingly, these conditional beta-power modulations correlated positively with behavioral performance in the timing judgment task and with perceptual temporal precision in a click-alignment task. This study provides new insight into the neural processes underlying prediction of the sharpness of the amplitude envelope during beat perception, which modulate the temporal perception of sounds. This finding could reflect a process that is involved in temporal prediction, exerting top-down control on neural entrainment via the prediction of acoustic edges in the auditory stream.

• Olgerta Asko, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann, Sabine Liliana Leske, Maja Dyhre Foldal, Llorens Anais & Ingrid Funderud [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2024). Altered hierarchical auditory predictive processing after lesions to the orbitofrontal cortex. eLIFE. 13. doi: 10.7554/eLife.86386. Full text in Research Archive
• Maja Dyhre Foldal, Sabine Liliana Leske, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann, Tor Endestad & Anne-Kristin Solbakk (2022). Attentional modulation of beta-power aligns with the timing of behaviorally relevant rhythmic sounds. Cerebral Cortex. ISSN 1047-3211. 33(5), p. 1876–1894. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhac179. Full text in Research Archive
• Anne-Kristin Solbakk, James Lubell, Sabine Leske, Ingrid Funderud, Llorens Anais & Alejandro Omar Blenkmann [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2021). Monitoring of self-paced action timing and sensory outcomes after lesions to the orbitofrontal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. ISSN 0898-929X. 33(9), p. 1956–1975. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01733. Full text in Research Archive
• Maja Dyhre Foldal, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann, Anaïs Llorens, Robert T. Knight, Anne-Kristin Solbakk & Tor Endestad (2020). The brain tracks auditory rhythm predictability independent of selective attention. Scientific Reports. 10, p. 1–13. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-64758-y. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The brain responds to violations of expected rhythms, due to extraction- and prediction of the temporal structure in auditory input. Yet, it is unknown how probability of rhythm violations affects the overall rhythm predictability. Another unresolved question is whether predictive processes are independent of attention processes. In this study, EEG was recorded while subjects listened to rhythmic sequences. Predictability was manipulated by changing the stimulus-onset-asynchrony (SOA deviants) for given tones in the rhythm. When SOA deviants were inserted rarely, predictability remained high, whereas predictability was lower with more frequent SOA deviants. Dichotic tone-presentation allowed for independent manipulation of attention, as specific tones of the rhythm were presented to separate ears. Attention was manipulated by instructing subjects to attend to tones in one ear only, while keeping the rhythmic structure of tones constant. The analyses of event-related potentials revealed an attenuated N1 for tones when rhythm predictability was high, while the N1 was enhanced by attention to tones. Bayesian statistics revealed no interaction between predictability and attention. A right-lateralization of attention effects, but not predictability effects, suggested potentially different cortical processes. This is the first study to show that probability of rhythm violation influences rhythm predictability, independent of attention.

• Anaïs Llorens, Ingrid Funderud, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann, James Lubell, Maja Dyhre Foldal & Sabine Liliana Leske [Show all 11 contributors for this article] (2020). Preservation of Interference Effects in Working Memory After Orbitofrontal Damage. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 13, p. 1–15. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00445. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is implicated in multiple cognitive processes, including inhibitory control, context memory, recency judgment, and choice behavior. Despite an emerging understanding of the role of OFC in memory and executive control, its necessity for core working memory (WM) operations remains undefined. Here, we assessed the impact of OFC damage on interference effects in WM using a Recent Probes task based on the Sternberg item-recognition task (1966). Subjects were asked to memorize a set of letters and then indicate whether a probe letter was presented in a particular set. Four conditions were created according to the forthcoming response ("yes"/"no") and the recency of the probe (presented in the previous trial set or not). We compared behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) responses between healthy subjects (n = 14) and patients with bilateral OFC damage (n = 14). Both groups had the same recency pattern of slower reaction time (RT) when the probe was presented in the previous trial but not in the current one, reflecting the proactive interference (PI). The within-group electrophysiological results showed no condition difference during letter encoding and maintenance. In contrast, event-related potentials (ERPs) to probes showed distinct within-group condition effects, and condition by group effects. The response and recency effects for controls occurred within the same time window (300-500 ms after probe onset) and were observed in two distinct spatial groups including right centro-posterior and left frontal electrodes. Both clusters showed ERP differences elicited by the response effect, and one cluster was also sensitive to the recency manipulation. Condition differences for the OFC group involved two different clusters, encompassing only left hemisphere electrodes and occurring during two consecutive time windows (345-463 ms and 565-710 ms). Both clusters were sensitive to the response effect, but no recency effect was found despite the behavioral recency effect. Although the groups had different electrophysiological responses, the maintenance of letters in WM, the evaluation of the context of the probe, and the decision to accept or reject a probed letter were preserved in OFC patients. The results suggest that neural reorganization may contribute to intact recency judgment and response after OFC damage.

• Samira Aminihajibashi, Thomas Hagen, Maja Dyhre Foldal, Bruno Laeng & Thomas Espeseth (2019). Individual differences in resting-state pupil size: Evidence for association between working memory capacity and pupil size variability. International Journal of Psychophysiology. ISSN 0167-8760. 140, p. 1–7. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.03.007. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Dynamic non-luminance-mediated changes in pupil diameter have frequently been shown to be a reliable index for the level of arousal, mental effort, and activity in the locus coeruleus, the brainstem's noradrenergic arousal center. While pupillometry has most commonly been used to assess the level of arousal in particular psychological states or the level of engagement in cognitive tasks, some recent studies have found a relationship between average resting-state (i.e. baseline) pupil sizes and individuals' working memory capacity (WMC), indicating that individuals with higher WMC on average have larger pupils than individuals with relatively lower WMC. In the present study, we measured pupil size continuously in 212 participants during rest (i.e. while fixating) and estimated WMC in all participants by administering the Letter-Number Sequencing (LNS) task from WAIS-III. We were unable to replicate the relation between average pupil size and WMC. However, the novel finding was that higher WMC was associated with higher variability in resting-state pupil size. The present results are relevant for the current debate on the role of noradrenergic activity on working memory capacity.

• Verónica Mäki-Marttunen, Thomas Hagen, Samira Aminihajibashi, Maja Dyhre Foldal, Maria Stavrinou & Jens Halvorsen [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2018). Ocular signatures of proactive versus reactive cognitive control in young adults. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience. ISSN 1530-7026. p. 1–15. doi: 10.3758/s13415-018-0621-5. Full text in Research Archive

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• Pål Strande Gamlemoen, Anne-Kristin Solbakk, Ole Petter Hjelle, Maja Dyhre Foldal & Sabine Liliana Leske (2025). Blir du også rasende når sidemannen prater i mobilen? Det er det gode grunner til. [Internet]. Aftenposten.no. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Høy mobilprating ute i det offentlige kan være skikkelig plagsomt. Og det er faktisk gode grunner til at hjernen vår ikke liker det.

• Sara D'Amario, Andreas Løve, Maja Dyhre Foldal & Alexander Refsum Jensenius (2025). Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Responses of Professional Violinists during Orchestra Performances. Full text in Research Archive
• Anne-Kristin Solbakk, Mikael Hope, Sandra Solli, Sabine Liliana Leske, Maja Dyhre Foldal & Alejandro Omar Blenkmann (2024). Research seminar. Full text in Research Archive
• Sabine Liliana Leske, Tor Endestad, Vegard Akselsson Volehaugen, Maja Dyhre Foldal, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann & Anne-Kristin Solbakk [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2024). Predicting the Beat Bin: Beta Oscillations Predict the Envelope Sharpness in a Rhythmic Sequence. Full text in Research Archive
• Sabine Liliana Leske, Tor Endestad, Vegard Volehaugen, Maja Dyhre Foldal, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann & Anne-Kristin Solbakk [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). Predicting the Beat Bin – Beta Oscillations Support Top-Down Prediction of The Temporal Precision of a Beat. Full text in Research Archive
• Alejandro Omar Blenkmann, Olgerta Asko, Vegard Volehaugen, Maja Dyhre Foldal, Sandra Solli & Sabine Liliana Leske [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2023). Auditory perception, memory, and predictions. Full text in Research Archive
• Leonardo Bonetti, Maja Dyhre Foldal, Sabine Liliana Leske, Olgerta Asko, Vegard Akselsson Volehaugen & Sandra Solli [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). Auditory perception, memory, and predictions. Full text in Research Archive
• Olgerta Asko, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann, Sabine Liliana Leske, Maja Dyhre Foldal, Anaïs Llorens & Ingrid Funderud [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2022). Altered hierarchical auditory predictive processing after lesions to the orbitofrontal cortex. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this study, we tested the causal involvement of the OFC in noticing breaches of predictions (i.e., PEs) at different hierarchical levels of task structural complexity. With this aim, we examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) of patients with focal OFC lesions and healthy adults while performing an auditory local-global oddball paradigm. Altogether, we found that after OFC damage, low-level PEs (i.e., processing of stimuli that are unpredicted at the local level) and combined low- and high-level PEs (i.e., processing of stimuli that are unpredicted at both the local and global level) were impacted. However, the processing of standard tones was not affected. We conclude that the OFC may contribute to a top-down process that modulates the deviance detection system in the primary auditory cortices, and may be involved in connecting PEs at lower hierarchical areas with predictions at higher areas. The study sheds new light on the poorly explored deficits of hierarchical auditory prediction in patients with damaged OFC.

• Maja Dyhre Foldal, Sabine Liliana Leske, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann, Tor Endestad & Anne-Kristin Solbakk (2021). Attentional modulation of alpha- and beta oscillations during perception of auditory rhythms. Full text in Research Archive
• Anne-Kristin Solbakk, Sabine Liliana Leske, James Isaac Lubell, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann, Anais Llorens & Ingrid Funderud [Show all 13 contributors for this article] (2021). Auditory prediction and prediction error in self-generated tones. Full text in Research Archive
• Storheim Siri & Maja Dyhre Foldal (2021). Unngå gulrot på lesesalen. [Journal]. Universitas. Full text in Research Archive
• Lilleslåtten Mari & Maja Dyhre Foldal (2021). Hjernen din lærer deg å overse forstyrrende lyder. [Journal]. forskning.no. Full text in Research Archive
• Sabine Liliana Leske, James Lubell, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann, Anaïs Llorens, Ingrid Funderud & Maja Dyhre Foldal [Show all 13 contributors for this article] (2019). Action-based auditory predictions. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Sensory consequences of actions are predicted by the brain via an internal forward model to prepare sensory cortical areas, referred to as motor prediction. In a similar vein, the predictive coding framework suggests that perception is based on internal models making predictions about sensory events, based on statistical probabilities of the stimuli. In the current study we investigated action-based sensory predictions. We used a self-paced, two-choice random generation task, infrequently inducing deviant outcomes of voluntary action. Participants repeatedly pressed a right and a left button normatively associated with a 70 ms long 1 kHz and 2 kHz tone, respectively. Occasional deviants occurred, inverting the learned button-tone association. Participants were instructed that their button presses should be random, at a regular but self-paced tempo of one press per 1-2 s, and that they should press both buttons with equal probability. They were informed that the tones are task-irrelevant. We used intracranial EEG (iEEG) data recorded from 10 adult patients with electrodes localized in frontal and temporal lobes. The patients had drug resistant epilepsy and were undergoing presurgical monitoring via implanted stereotactic electrodes. Electrode coordinates and anatomical labels were obtained from coregistered MRI and CT images using iElectrodes toolbox. Initial results indicate that violations of action intentions modulated high frequency band activity (HFA, 75-145 Hz) in distributed brain regions including temporal and prefrontal cortices.

• Sabine Liliana Leske, James Isaac Lubell, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann, Anaïs Llorens, Ingrid Funderud & Maja Dyhre Foldal [Show all 13 contributors for this article] (2019). Auditory prediction and prediction error in self-generated tones. Full text in Research Archive
• Maja Dyhre Foldal, Alejandro Omar Blenkmann, Anaïs Llorens, Robert Thomas Knight, Anne-Kristin Solbakk & Tor Endestad (2019). The brain tracks global temporal regularity in auditory patterns. Full text in Research Archive
• Maria Stavrinou, Olgerta Asko, Thomas Hagen, Maja Dyhre Foldal & Thomas Espeseth (2017). The long term effects of reward on spatial priority maps studied with Electroencephalography and Pupillometry. Full text in Research Archive
• Maja Dyhre Foldal, Anne-Kristin Solbakk & Tor Endestad (2021). Perceiving temporal structure in auditory stimuli: The role of attention and prediction. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Auditory perception involves separating streams of sounds in our surroundings that originate from different sources and have varying temporal structures. The ability to selectively focus on one amongst multiple sound streams, as well as the ability to extract regularities to anticipate forthcoming sounds, are therefore essential. These abilities are often referred to as selective attention and prediction, respectively. Selectively attending to and predicting specific information involve processing multiple dimensions of sensory information, such as its content (what), location (where), and timing (when). So far, the research fields of attention and sensory prediction have been mainly concerned with the ‘what’- and ‘where’-dimensions of information processing. The temporal aspects of sensory prediction and attention are therefore far less understood, despite the obvious importance of timing in perceiving rapidly changing environments. Accordingly, the present work aimed to investigate the specific roles of attention and prediction during perception of temporal structure, as well as their potential interaction. The first goal was to identify electrophysiological signatures of temporal attention during perception of sound sequences. It was found (Paper I) that modulation of neural activity indexing voluntary attention to sound, aligned more strongly to sound timing in attended compared to ignored rhythmic sound streams. The second goal was to identify electrophysiological and behavioral correlates of temporal prediction. Previous studies demonstrated how the brain responds more strongly to surprising sounds (i.e., deviant pitch) as their probability of occurring decreases (i.e., statistical learning). The second study (Paper II) showed that temporal predictability similarly affected early perceptual responses, as these were diminished when sound timing was more predictable (i.e., less frequent rhythm violations). Additionally, the third study (Paper III) found that presenting sounds at statistically surprising intervals improved processing of coinciding visual targets, indexed by faster responses. Finally, the third goal was to address the independence of- as well as potential interaction between attention and prediction. The reported electrophysiological and behavioral effects of temporal predictability (Papers II and III) occurred regardless of whether the sounds were task-relevant, in line with assumptions that prediction is an inherent feature of perceptual processing. However, the attention-allocation effects reported in Paper I appeared to be enhanced when the auditory rhythmic stimuli were more predictable, suggesting interaction. In summary, it was demonstrated how to conceptualize and study the independent roles of attention and prediction during perception of temporal structure. Furthermore, this permitted investigating potential interaction between attentional and predictive processing. It was shown how attention to varying temporal structures in rapidly presented sound stimuli, is reflected in ongoing neural dynamics. Furthermore, we found similar effects of temporal predictability to those reported for prediction of sound features (e.g., pitch). Specifically, the expectedness of particular intervals between sounds was affected by the probability of their occurrence (i.e., statistical learning). Finally, predictive processing related to sound timing appeared to operate regardless of attention (Papers II and III). However, the potential interaction demonstrated in Paper I highlights that while predictive processing might operate automatically, this does not rule out the possibility of an interplay between mechanisms. In conclusion, the results might have important implications for expanding our knowledge regarding how these mechanisms are implemented in the brain in future studies (e.g., identifying crucial brain structures and specific neural mechanisms). Furthermore, deficient temporal processing is a characteristic of certain disorders (e.g., Parkinson’s disease), making this research also clinically relevant. Accordingly, findings of the present work encourage future investigation of attention and prediction as distinct cognitive mechanisms.

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