In this article, we outline a general approach for detecting changes in phase-amplitude coupling during visual processing, using a novel MEG dataset, analyzed using the Fieldtrip toolbox (Oostenveld et al., 2010), and openly available MATLAB scripts. Four common PAC algorithms were used to quantify the coupling between ongoing alpha phase (7–13 Hz) and gamma amplitude/power (>40 Hz) whilst participants viewed a static visual grating. Given the controversy surrounding PAC analysis, methodological steps were outlined in detail and justified by existing empirical research. Furthermore, follow-up analyses were conducted to establish the reliability of our results and to assess whether patterns of alpha-gamma PAC were driven by non-sinusoidal oscillations or insufficient data.
