The role of alpha oscillations in deriving and maintaining spatial relations in working memory.

ABSTRACT: Previous research has demonstrated distinct neural correlates for maintenance of abstract, relational versus concrete, sensory information in working memory (WM). Storage of spatial relations in WM results in suppression of posterior sensory regions, which suggests that sensory information is task-irrelevant when relational representations are maintained in WM. However, the neural mechanisms by which abstract representations are derived from sensory information remain unclear. Here, using electroencephalography, we investigated the role of alpha oscillations in deriving spatial relations from a sensory stimulus and maintaining them in WM. Participants encoded two locations into WM, then after an initial maintenance period, a cue indicated whether to convert the spatial information to anoth

SUBMITTER: Blacker KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5018438 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature