ArticlePLoS biology2023
Alpha oscillatory activity is causally linked to working memory retention.
Article in PLoS biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation at the Individual Alpha Frequency Shows Potential Value in Improving Working Memory in Healthy Participants.Brain and behavior · 2026Trial
- Article
- Decoding real-world visual scenes from alpha and gamma band flicker evoked oscillations in human EEG.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Working memory load and search efficiency in conventional monitor-based 2D versus 3D virtual settings: analysis of response times and parietal induced alpha activity in a modified Sternberg task.Experimental brain research · 2026Article
- Alpha power indexes working memory load for durations.iScience · 2026Article
- Silent yet impaired: Hidden memory processing deficits in asymptomatic individuals with moderate-to-severe white matter hyperintensities.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Enhancing working memory in MCI: Modulating alpha-gamma coupling and gamma oscillations via rTMS.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025Article
- Higher baseline alpha power is associated with faster responses in visual search.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- High-definition transcranial direct-current stimulation of left primary motor cortices modulates beta and gamma oscillations serving motor control.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Alpha Traveling Waves during Working Memory: Disentangling Bottom-Up Gating and Top-Down Gain Control.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Effects of one session of theta or high alpha neurofeedback on EEG activity and working memory.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2024Article
- Sensory stimulation enhances visual working memory capacity.Communications psychology · 2024Article
- Enhancing mathematical learning outcomes through a low-cost single-channel BCI system.NPJ science of learning · 2024Article
- Enhancing Working Memory and Reducing Anxiety in University Students: A Neurofeedback Approach.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Strengthening of alpha synchronization is a neural correlate of cognitive transfer.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
- No effects of the theta-frequency transcranial electrical stimulation for recall, attention control, and relation integration in working memory.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
- Transcranial alternating current stimulation for the treatment of major depressive disorder: from basic mechanisms toward clinical applications.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2023Review
- Sustained alpha oscillations serve attentional prioritization in working memory, not maintenance.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Although previous studies have reported correlations between alpha oscillations and the "retention" subprocess of working memory (WM), causal evidence has been limited in human neuroscience due to the lack of delicate modulation of human brain oscillations. Conventional transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is not suitable for demonstrating the causal evidence for parietal alpha oscillations in WM retention because of its inability to modulate brain oscillations within a short period (i.e., the retention subprocess). Here, we developed an online phase-corrected tACS system capable of precisely correcting for the phase differences between tACS and concurrent endogenous oscillations. This system permits the modulation of brain oscillations at the target stimulation frequency within a short stimulation period and is here applied to empirically demonstrate that parietal alpha oscillations causally relate to WM retention. Our experimental design included both in-phase and anti-phase alpha-tACS applied to participants during the retention subprocess of a modified Sternberg paradigm. Compared to in-phase alpha-tACS, anti-phase alpha-tACS decreased both WM performance and alpha activity. These findings strongly support a causal link between alpha oscillations and WM retention and illustrate the broad application prospects of phase-corrected tACS.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.