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Frontal theta activity in humans increases with memory load in a working memory task
Author(s) -
Jensen Ole,
Tesche Claudia D.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1460-9568.2002.01975.x
Subject(s) - working memory , task (project management) , psychology , recall , period (music) , neuroscience , audiology , brain activity and meditation , theta rhythm , cognitive psychology , electroencephalography , cognition , physics , medicine , acoustics , management , economics
Abstract Recent theoretical work has suggested that brain oscillations in the theta band are involved in active maintenance and recall of working memory representations. To test this theoretical framework we recorded neuromagnetic responses from 10 subjects performing the Sternberg task. Subjects were required to retain a list of 1, 3, 5 or 7 visually presented digits during a 3‐s retention period. During the retention period we observed ongoing frontal theta activity in the 7–8.5‐Hz band recorded by sensors over frontal brain areas. The activity in the theta band increased parametrically with the number of items retained in working memory. A time–frequency analysis revealed that the task‐dependent theta was present during the retention period and during memory scanning. Following the memory task the theta activity was reduced. These results suggest that theta oscillations generated in frontal brain regions play an active role in memory maintenance.