Frontal theta is a signature of successful working memory manipulation

Sirawaj Itthipuripat; Jan R Wessel; Adam R Aron

doi:10.1007/s00221-012-3305-3

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Frontal theta is a signature of successful working memory manipulation

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Frontal theta is a signature of successful working memory manipulation

Sirawaj Itthipuripat, Jan R Wessel and Adam R Aron

Experimental brain research, Vol.224(2), pp.255-262

01/2013

DOI: 10.1007/s00221-012-3305-3

PMCID: PMC3536917

PMID: 23109082

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/3536917View

Open Access

Abstract

It has been proposed that working memory (WM) is updated/manipulated via a fronto-basal-ganglia circuit. One way that this could happen is via the synchronization of neural oscillations. A first step toward testing this hypothesis is to clearly establish a frontal scalp EEG signature of WM manipulation. Although many EEG studies have indeed revealed frontal EEG signatures for WM, especially in the theta frequency band (3-8 Hz), few of them required subjects to manipulate WM, and of those that did, none specifically tied the EEG signature to the manipulation process per se. Here we employed a WM manipulation task that has been shown with imaging to engage the prefrontal cortex and the striatum. We adapted this task to titrate the success of WM manipulation to approximately 50 %. Using time-frequency analysis of EEG, we showed that theta power increased over frontal cortex for successful versus failed WM manipulation, specifically at the time of the manipulation event. This establishes a clear-cut EEG signature of WM manipulation. Future studies could employ this to test the fronto-basal-ganglia hypothesis of WM updating/manipulation.

Humans

Male

Electroencephalography

Memory, Short-Term - physiology

Reaction Time - physiology

Frontal Lobe - physiology

Serial Learning - physiology

Young Adult

Time Factors

Adolescent

Adult

Female

Photic Stimulation

Theta Rhythm - physiology

Details

Title: Subtitle: Frontal theta is a signature of successful working memory manipulation
Creators: Sirawaj Itthipuripat - Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, San Diego, CA 92093, USA
Jan R Wessel
Adam R Aron
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Experimental brain research, Vol.224(2), pp.255-262
DOI: 10.1007/s00221-012-3305-3
PMID: 23109082
PMCID: PMC3536917
NLM abbreviation: Exp Brain Res
ISSN: 1432-1106
eISSN: 1432-1106
Publisher: Germany
Grant note: DA026452 / NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA026452 / NIDA NIH HHS
Language: English
Date published: 01/2013
Academic Unit: Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering; Neurology; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984002470502771

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