A1 Journal article (refereed)
Alpha oscillations protect auditory working memory against distractors in the encoding phase (2025)
Tu, C.-A., Parviainen, T., Hämäläinen, J. A., & Hsu, Y.-F. (2025). Alpha oscillations protect auditory working memory against distractors in the encoding phase. Neuropsychologia, 207, Article 109058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.109058
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: Tu, Chia-An; Parviainen, Tiina; Hämäläinen, Jarmo A.; Hsu, Yi-Fang
Journal or series: Neuropsychologia
ISSN: 0028-3932
eISSN: 1873-3514
Publication year: 2025
Publication date: 28/11/2024
Volume: 207
Article number: 109058
Publisher: Elsevier
Publication country: United Kingdom
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.109058
Publication open access: Openly available
Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/99369
Abstract
Alpha oscillations are proposed to serve the function of inhibition to protect items in working memory from intruding information. In a modified Sternberg paradigm, alpha power was initially found to increase at the anticipation of strong compared to weak distractors, reflecting the active gating of distracting information from interfering with the memory trace. However, there was a lack of evidence supporting the inhibition account of alpha oscillations in later studies using similar experimental design with greater temporal disparity between the encoding phase and the presentation of the distractors. This temporal disparity might have dampened the demands for inhibition. To test the hypothesis that alpha inhibition takes place when distractors are temporally close to the encoding phase, here we designed a modified Sternberg paradigm where distractors were sandwiched between targets in the encoding phase to ensure that they compete for working memory resources. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we replicated the finding that alpha power increased for strong compared to weak distractors. The effect was present throughout the encoding phase, not only upon the presentation of distractors but also before and after the presentation of distractors, providing evidence for both proactive and reactive inhibition of distractors at the neuronal level. Meanwhile, the effect was restricted to the context of high but not low target-to-distractor ratio. The results suggest that the distractors being temporally close to the encoding phase of more targets might be a boundary condition of the generation of alpha oscillations for gating.
Keywords: working memory; EEG; imaging; cognitive processes; brain research
Free keywords: alpha oscillations; working memory; sternberg paradigm; electroencephalography (EEG)
Contributing organizations
Ministry reporting: Yes
VIRTA submission year: 2025
Preliminary JUFO rating: 2