Temporal codes of visual working memory in the human cerebral cortex

Noguchi, Yasuki; Kakigi, Ryusuke

doi:10.1101/2020.04.26.062752

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…In contrast, alpha AM in the delta/theta band reflected the target selection process (de Vries et al, 2018). One recent study has shown that the load-dependent increment of the speed of parietal alpha/beta oscillation predicts individual WM capacity (Noguchi and Kakigi, 2020). Therefore, the beta AM observed might indicate a more efficient target selection for high-precision participants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association between working memory precision and the nonlinear dynamics of frontal and parieto-occipital EEG activity

Chang

Liang

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Electrophysiological working memory (WM) research has shown that distinct brain areas communicate through macroscopic oscillatory activities across multiple frequency bands. Such cross-frequency interactions generate nonlinear amplitude modulations (AM) in the observed signal. Traditionally, the AM of a signal is expressed as coupling strength between the signal and a pre-specified modulator at a lower frequency. Therefore, the idea of AM and coupling cannot be separately studied. This EEG study shows that the AM of parieto-occipital alpha/beta power and the coupling between frontal theta phase and parieto-occipital alpha/beta AM provide different information on WM processing. Thirty-three participants completed a color recall task with simultaneous EEG recording. The results showed that individual differences in WM precision are associated with frontal theta power enhancement and parieto-occipital alpha/beta power suppression. Furthermore, the AM of parieto-occipital alpha/beta power predicted WM precision after presenting a target-defining probe array. The phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) between frontal theta phase and parieto-occipital alpha/beta AM increased with WM load during the processing of incoming stimuli, but they did not predict the subsequent recall performance. These results indicate that the frontoparietal PAC reflects the executive control for selecting relevant WM representations, but whether the memorized information can be retrieved depends on the subsequent amplitude variation of parieto-occipital alpha/beta power. In conclusion, individuals with higher working memory precision are associated with enhanced frontal theta power and parieto-occipital alpha/beta power suppression.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association between working memory precision and the nonlinear dynamics of frontal and parieto-occipital EEG activity

Chang

Liang

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…This revealed that the central frequency of beta oscillations during the working memory delay increased with working memory load. For each added item, the frequency of the beta oscillations in the following delay got elevated (Noguchi & Kakigi, 2020; see also Lundqvist et al., 2018 for a similar pattern in central frequency of bursts).…”

Section: Oscillatory Burst Event Analyses Suggest Discrete Events Und...mentioning

confidence: 93%

New methods for oscillation analyses push new theories of discrete cognition

Lundqvist

Wutz

2021

Psychophysiology

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Classical ways of analyzing neural time series data has led to static views on cognition, in which the cognitive processes are linked to sustained neural activity and interpreted as stationary states. The core analytical focus was on slow power modulations of neural oscillations averaged across many experimental trials. Whereas this custom analytical approach reduces the complexity and increases the signal‐to‐noise ratio, it may disregard or even remove important aspects of the underlying neural dynamics. Novel analysis methods investigate the instantaneous frequency and phase of neural oscillations and relate them to the precisely controlled timing of brief successive sensory stimuli. This enables to capture how cognitive processes unfold in discrete windows within and across oscillatory cycles. Moreover, several recent studies analyze the oscillatory power modulations on single experimental trials. They suggest that the power modulations are packed into discrete bursts of activity, which occur at different rates and times, and with different durations from trial‐to‐trial. Here, we review the current work that made use of these methodological advances for neural oscillations. These novel analysis perspectives emphasize that cognitive processes occur in discrete time windows, instead of sustained, stationary states. Evidence for discretization was observed for the entire range of cognitive functions from perception and attention to working memory, goal‐directed thought and motor actions, as well as throughout the entire cortical hierarchy and in subcortical regions. These empirical observations create demand for new psychological theories and computational models of cognition in the brain, which integrate its discrete temporal dynamics.

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“…However, it remained unclear how the semantic information is bound together as neural (electrical) signals in the human brain. Based on a close relationship between WM and oscillatory brain activities (Weiss and Mueller, 2012; Hanslmayr and Staudigl, 2014; Roux and Uhlhaas, 2014; Miller et al, 2018; Gehrig et al, 2019; Noguchi and Kakigi, 2020), here I use electroencephalography and test a hypothesis that a semantic integration in WM is represented as a harmony of neural rhythms ( Fig. 1 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harmonic memory signals in the human cerebral cortex induced by sematic relatedness of words

Noguchi

2022

Preprint

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When we memorize multiple words simultaneously, semantic relatedness among those words assists memory. For example, the information of 'apple', 'banana' and 'orange' will be connected via a common concept of 'fruits' and become easy to retain and recall. Neural mechanisms underlying this semantic integration in verbal working memory remain unclear. Here I used electroencephalography (EEG) and investigated neural signals when healthy human participants memorized five nouns semantically related (Sem trial) or not (NonSem trial). The regularity of oscillatory signals (8 to 30 Hz) during the retention period was found to be lower in NonSem than Sem trials, indicating that memorizing words unrelated to each other induced a non-harmonic (irregular) waveform in the temporal cortex. These results suggest that (i) semantic features of a word are retained as a set of neural oscillations at specific frequencies and (ii) memorizing words sharing a common semantic feature produces harmonic brain responses through a resonance or integration (sharing) of the oscillatory signals.

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Temporal codes of visual working memory in the human cerebral cortex

Cited by 3 publications

References 67 publications

The association between working memory precision and the nonlinear dynamics of frontal and parieto-occipital EEG activity

The association between working memory precision and the nonlinear dynamics of frontal and parieto-occipital EEG activity

New methods for oscillation analyses push new theories of discrete cognition

Harmonic memory signals in the human cerebral cortex induced by sematic relatedness of words

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