EEG alpha distinguishes between cuneal and precuneal activation in working memory

Michels, Lars; Moazami-Goudarzi, Morteza; Jeanmonod, Daniel; Sarnthein, Johannes

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.12.048

Cited by 113 publications

(141 citation statements)

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“…In the study by Michels et al (2008), however, a WM-dependent fm-theta increase was absent in more than 20% of the subjects, confirming that these effects are highly variable . Large individual variability puts limits to the interpretation of fm-theta effects and to their use for research on WM processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…Previous studies did not agree whether increasing WM load would lead to an alpha decrease (Gevins et al 1997), to an increase (Scheeringa et al 2009;Boonstra et al 2013), or whether the direction of change differed between individuals (Michels et al 2008;Meltzer et al 2007). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Accordingly, Jensen and Tesche (2002) demonstrated in an MEG study that theta indeed increased with WM load during retention. Not only in visual associative WM tasks (Boonstra et al, 2013) but also during a Sternberg WM task, Meltzer et al (2007) and Michels et al (2008) localized the fmtheta increase during retention to frontal and anterior cingulate regions, i.e. in regions which are involved in behavioral monitoring (Luu et al 2004) and valuation of response outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Frontal Midline Theta Reflects Individual Task Performance in a Working Memory Task

et al. 2014

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Frontal midline (fm-)theta activity has been related to working memory (WM) processes, as it typically increases with WM load. The robustness of this effect, however, varies across studies and subjects, putting limits to its interpretation. We hypothesized that variation in the fm-theta effect may reflect individual differences in task difficulty with increasing WM load as indicated by behavioural responses. We further tested whether effects in the alpha range are robust markers of WM load. We recorded 64-channel EEG from 24 healthy adults while they memorized either 2 or 4 unfamiliar symbols (low vs. high WM load) in a modified Sternberg task. The last 2 s of the retention phase were analyzed for WM load-related changes in the theta (5-7 Hz) and alpha range (lower: 8-10 Hz, upper: 10.5-12.5 Hz). Higher WM load led to less accurate and slower responses. The increase of fm-theta with WM load was most pronounced at fm electrodes, localized to anterior cingulate regions, and correlated with the participants' decrease in accuracy due to higher WM load. Alpha peak frequency increased in the high compared to the low WM load condition, corresponding to a decrease in lower alpha range across all channels. The results demonstrate that previously reported variation in fm-theta workload effects can partly be explained by variation in task difficulty indexed by individual task accuracy. Moreover, the results also demonstrate that alpha WM load effects are prominent when separating upper and lower alpha. AbstractFrontal midline (fm-)theta activity has been related to working memory (WM) processes, as it typically increases with WM load. The robustness of this effect, however, varies across studies and subjects, putting limits to its interpretation. We hypothesized that variation in the fm-theta effect may reflect individual differences in task difficulty with increasing WM load as indicated by behavioural responses. We further tested whether effects in the alpha range are more robust markers of WM load. We recorded 64-channel EEG from 24 healthy adults while they memorized either 2 or 4 unfamiliar symbols (low versus high WM load) in a modified Sternberg task. The last 2 seconds of the retention phase were analyzed for WM load-related changes in the theta (5-7 Hz) and alpha range (lower: 8-10 Hz, upper: 10.5-12.5 Hz). Higher WM load led to less accurate and slower responses. The increase of fm-theta with WM load was most pronounced at frontal midline electrodes, localized to anterior cingulate regions, and correlated with the participants' decrease in accuracy due to higher WM load. Alpha peak frequency increased in the high compared to the low WM load condition, corresponding to a decrease in lower alpha range across all channels. The results demonstrate that previously reported variation in fm-theta workload effects can partly be explained by variation in task difficulty indexed by task accuracy. Moreover, the results also demonstrate that alpha WM load effects are prominent when separating upper and lower alpha.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Frontal Midline Theta Reflects Individual Task Performance in a Working Memory Task

et al. 2014

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“…Our analyses revealed a widespread effect of demand on upper-alpha suppression at frontal, central and parietal sites, but like the analysis of frontomedial theta, no significant of financial incentive was observed (Table 1). The absence of localised effect at parietal sites may point towards an association between upper-alpha and a generic, ubiquitous role during working memory processing, such as active inhibition of competing sources of attention (Michels et al, 2008;Klimesch, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the status of upper-alpha activity as a marker of semantic processing has been challenged, it was argued that upperalpha represented an unspecific form of cortical activation observed during complex mental activity (Berger, Omer, Minarik, Sterr, & Sauseng, 2014). It has also been postulated that upper-alpha activity represents a generic and ubiquitous process of active inhibition that is associated with demands on selective attention (Michels et al, 2008;Klimesch, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of task demand and incentive on neurophysiological and cardiovascular markers of effort

Fairclough

Ewing

2017

International Journal of Psychophysiology

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According to motivational intensity theory, effort is proportional to the level of task demand provided that success is possible and successful performance is deemed worthwhile. The current study represents a simultaneous manipulation of demand (working memory load) and success importance (financial incentive) to investigate neurophysiological (EEG) and cardiovascular measures of effort. A 2 x 2 repeated-measures study was conducted where 18 participants performed a n-back task under three conditions of demand: easy (1-back), hard (4-back) and very hard (7-back). In addition, participants performed these tasks in the presence of performance-contingent financial incentive or in a no-incentive (pilot trial) condition.Three bands of EEG activity were quantified: theta (4-7Hz), lower-alpha (7.5-10Hz) and upper-alpha (10.5-13Hz). Fronto-medial activity in the theta band and activity in the upper-alpha band at frontal, central and parietal sites were sensitive to demand and indicated greatest effort when the task was challenging and success was possible. Mean systolic blood pressure and activity in the lower-alpha band at parietal sites were also sensitive to demand but also increased in the incentive condition across all levels of task demand. The results of the study largely support the predictions of motivational intensity using neurophysiological markers of effort. • Systolic blood pressure was sensitive to both demand and incentive page 3

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Less is more: Removing a modality of an expected olfactory‐visual stimulation enhances brain activation

Schicker

Blankenagel

Zimmer

et al. 2022

Human Brain Mapping

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In recent years, multisensory integration of visual and olfactory stimuli has extensively been explored resulting in the identification of responsible brain areas. As the experimental designs of previous research often include alternating presentations of unimodal and bimodal stimuli, the conditions cannot be regarded as completely independent. This could lead to effects of an expected but surprisingly missing sensory modality. In our experiment, we used a common functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study design with alternating strong unimodal and bimodal olfactory‐visual food stimuli, in addition to a slight overhang of the bimodal stimuli in an effort to examine the effects of removing a visual or olfactory congruent stimulus for older people (41–83 years). Our results suggest that the processing of olfactory and visual stimuli stays intact over a wide age‐range and that the utilization of strong stimuli does not lead to superadditive multisensory integration in accordance with the principle of inverse effectiveness. However, our results demonstrate that the removal of a stimulus modality leads to an activation of additional brain areas. For example, when the visual stimulus modality is missing, the right posterior superior temporal gyrus shows higher activation, whereas the removal of the olfactory stimulus modality leads to higher activation in the amygdala/hippocampus and the postcentral gyrus. These brain areas are related to attention, memory, and the search of the missing stimulus. Consequently, careful attention must be paid to the design of a valid, multimodal sensory experiment while also controlling for cognitive expectancy effects that might confound multimodal results.

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EEG alpha distinguishes between cuneal and precuneal activation in working memory

Cited by 113 publications

References 47 publications

Frontal Midline Theta Reflects Individual Task Performance in a Working Memory Task

Frontal Midline Theta Reflects Individual Task Performance in a Working Memory Task

The effect of task demand and incentive on neurophysiological and cardiovascular markers of effort

Less is more: Removing a modality of an expected olfactory‐visual stimulation enhances brain activation

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