Beta-band neural variability reveals age-related dissociations in human working memory maintenance and deletion.

ABSTRACT: Maintaining and removing information in mind are 2 fundamental cognitive processes that decline sharply with age. Using a combination of beta-band neural oscillations, which have been implicated in the regulation of working memory contents, and cross-trial neural variability, an undervalued property of brain dynamics theorized to govern adaptive cognitive processes, we demonstrate an age-related dissociation between distinct working memory functions-information maintenance and post-response deletion. Load-dependent decreases in beta variability during maintenance predicted memory performance of younger, but not older adults. Surprisingly, the post-response phase emerged as the predictive locus of working memory performance for older adults, with post-response beta variability correlated wi

SUBMITTER: Wen W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11389900 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature