We rely on sustained attention to protect task performance against fatigue and distraction. Time-related variations in attention correlate with amplitude changes of specific cortical oscillations. However, the ways in which these oscillations might support sustained attention, how these oscillations are controlled, and the extent to which they influence one another remain unclear. We address this issue by proposing an oscillatory model of sustained attention. Within this framework, sustained attention relies on frontomedial theta oscillations, inter-areal communication via low-frequency phase synchronisation, and selective excitation and inhibition of cognitive processing through gamma and alpha oscillations, respectively. Sustained attention also relies on interactions between these oscillations across attention-related brain networks.

In recent decades, our appreciation of the complexity of the brain has deepened immensely, as has our understanding of how it performs key functions. In the face of such complexity, and given the rising cost of neuropsychiatric illness (1), an intriguing question is whether we can promote further understanding, and in some cases enhancement, of the typical and atypical brain by targeted modulation of its activity. Notably, transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)–which involves transcranial application of weak sinusoidal electrical currents (2)–seems ideally suited to address this question, as it has been demonstrated to modulate endogenous oscillatory electrical activity (3), enhance cognitive functions (4–7), and provide support in neurological disease (8, 9). However, a complete mechanistic pathway between the neuronal and cognitive effects of tACS remains in need of explication, precluding both significant theoretical contribution by tACS studies, and the development of more adaptive neuroenhancement regimes. Therefore, in this Opinion article, we briefly review the role of oscillatory neuronal activity in cognition, before outlining one potential pathway by which the interaction between tACS and endogenous oscillations at a network level may be reconciled with its effects on broader cognitive functions.

A central feature of human brain activity is the alpha rhythm: a 7–13 Hz oscillation observed most notably over occipitoparietal brain regions during periods of eyes‐closed rest. Alpha oscillations covary with changes in visual processing and have been associated with a broad range of neurocognitive functions. In this article, we review these associations and suggest that alpha oscillations can be thought to exhibit at least five distinct ‘characters’: those of the inhibitor, perceiver, predictor, communicator and stabiliser. In short, while alpha oscillations are strongly associated with reductions in visual attention, they also appear to play important roles in regulating the timing and temporal resolution of perception. Furthermore, alpha oscillations are strongly associated with top‐down control and may facilitate transmission of predictions to visual cortex. This is in addition to promoting communication between frontal and posterior brain regions more generally, as well as maintaining ongoing perceptual states. We discuss why alpha oscillations might associate with such a broad range of cognitive functions and suggest ways in which these diverse associations can be studied experimentally.

Neural oscillations in the alpha band (7–13 Hz) have long been associated with reductions in attention. However, recent studies have suggested a more nuanced perspective in which alpha oscillations also facilitate processes of cognitive control and perceptual stability. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) over occipitoparietal cortex at 10 Hz (alpha-tACS) can selectively enhance EEG alpha power. To assess the contribution of alpha oscillations to attention, we delivered alpha-tACS across four experiments while 178 participants performed sustained attention tasks. Poor performance on all visual tasks was previously associated with increased EEG alpha power. We therefore predicted initially that alpha-tACS would consistently impair visual task performance. However, alpha-tACS was instead found to prevent deteriorations in visual performance that otherwise occurred during sham- and 50 Hz-tACS. This finding was observed in two experiments, using different sustained attention tasks. In a separate experiment, we also found that alpha-tACS limited improvements on a visual task where learning was otherwise observed. Consequently, alpha-tACS appeared to exert a consistently stabilizing effect on visual attention. Such effects were not seen in an auditory control task, indicating specificity to the visual domain. We suggest that these results are most consistent with the view that alpha oscillations facilitate processes of top-down control and attentional stability

Neural oscillations in the alpha band (7–13 Hz) are commonly associated with disengagement of visual attention. However, recent studies have also associated alpha with processes of attentional control and stability. We addressed this issue in previous experiments by delivering transcranial alternating current stimulation at 10 Hz over posterior cortex during visual tasks (alpha tACS). As this stimulation can induce reliable increases in EEG alpha power, and given that performance on each of our visual tasks was negatively associated with alpha power, we assumed that alpha tACS would reliably impair visual performance. However, alpha tACS was instead found to prevent both deteriorations and improvements in visual performance that otherwise occurred during sham & 50 Hz tACS. Alpha tACS therefore appeared to exert a stabilizing effect on visual attention. This hypothesis was tested in the current, pre-registered experiment by delivering alpha tACS during a task that required rapid switching of attention between motion, color, and auditory subtasks. We assumed that, if alpha tACS stabilizes visual attention, this stimulation should make it harder for people to switch between visual tasks, but should have little influence on transitions between auditory and visual subtasks. However, in contrast to this prediction, we observed no evidence of impairments in visuovisual vs. audiovisual switching during alpha vs. control tACS. Instead, we observed a trend-level reduction in visuoauditory switching accuracy during alpha tACS. Post-hoc analyses showed no effects of alpha tACS in response time variability, diffusion model parameters, or on performance of repeat trials. EEG analyses also showed no effects of alpha tACS on endogenous or stimulus-evoked alpha power. We discuss possible explanations for these results, as well as their broader implications for current efforts to study the roles of neural oscillations in cognition using tACS.