More coherent excitatory stimuli are known to have a competitive advantage over less coherent ones. We show here that this advantage is amplified greatly when the target includes inhibitory interneurons acting via GABA(A)-receptor-mediated synapses and the coherent input oscillates at gamma frequency. We hypothesize that therein lies, at least in part, the functional significance of the experimentally observed link between attentional biasing of stimulus competition and gamma frequency rhythmicity.