Prestimulus alpha power biases perceptual decisions and confidences in a tactile temporal discrimination task

Despite physically identical stimuli, sensory stimulation is often perceived differently. Recent studies have demonstrated that prestimulus alpha-band activity plays a substantial role for such variations of perception. Here, we studied the influence of prestimulus alpha power on temporal perceptual discrimination of supra-threshold tactile stimuli and subjects' confidence in their decisions. Data were analyzed within the framework of a decision-making model.