Abstract
Alpha oscillations are often reported to be amplified during working memory (WM) retention, serving to disengage sensory areas to protect internal representations from external interference. At the same time, contemporary views of WM postulate that sensory areas may often also be recruited for retention. I here review recent evidence that during such ‘perceptual’ WM, alpha oscillations in mnemonically relevant sensory areas are not amplified but attenuated instead. I will argue that such attenuated alpha states serve a mnemonic role and, further, that larger attenuation may support item‐specific attentional prioritisation within perceptual WM. In critically evaluating this role, I also consider (and argue against) four alternatives to a strictly mnemonic account of the available data that may also prove useful to consider in future research. Finally, I highlight key implications of these data for the study of WM and for our understanding of the functional roles of states of attenuated alpha oscillations in cognition.
Highlights
Alpha oscillations (8–12 Hz) provide a window into the engagement of the underlying neural circuity within macroscopic magneto- and encephalography (M/EEG) measurements in healthy humans (Berger, 1929; Hari & Salmelin, 1997) – with states of attenuated alpha oscillations generally being associated with increased cortical engagement (Klimesch et al, 2007; Jensen & Mazaheri, 2010; Foxe & Snyder, 2011; Haegens et al, 2011a; Hanslmayr et al, 2012)
Provided that states of attenuated alpha oscillations have traditionally been associated with increased susceptibility to incoming a-oscillations and perceptual working memory 2513 sensations, the question arises how potentially distracting sensory input is countered in situations in which WM retention involves attenuation of alpha oscillations
I have argued that the association between alpha oscillations and WM is critically shaped by the nature of the memoranda, in conjunction with the source of the alpha oscillations under consideration
Summary
Alpha oscillations (8–12 Hz) provide a window into the engagement of the underlying neural circuity within macroscopic magneto- and encephalography (M/EEG) measurements in healthy humans (Berger, 1929; Hari & Salmelin, 1997) – with states of attenuated (vs. amplified) alpha oscillations generally being associated with increased (vs. decreased) cortical engagement (Klimesch et al, 2007; Jensen & Mazaheri, 2010; Foxe & Snyder, 2011; Haegens et al, 2011a; Hanslmayr et al, 2012). It raises the possibility that modulations of alpha oscillations during WM may serve a genuine mnemonic function – whereby attenuated alpha states (marking sensory engagement, or ‘recruitment’) actively support WM retention.
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