Traveling waves in the prefrontal cortex during working memory.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35089915.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009827 and PMC identifier 8827486.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Neural oscillations are evident across cortex but their spatial structure is not well- explored. Are oscillations stationary or do they form "traveling waves", i.e., spatially organized patterns whose peaks and troughs move sequentially across cortex? Here, we show that oscillations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) organized as traveling waves in the theta (4-8Hz), alpha (8-12Hz) and beta (12-30Hz) bands. Some traveling waves were planar but most rotated. The waves were modulated during performance of a working memory task. During baseline conditions, waves flowed bidirectionally along a specific axis of orientation. Waves in different frequency bands could travel in different directions. During task performance, there was an increase in waves in one direction over the other, especially in the beta band.
Medical subject headings
- Brain Waves
- Memory, Short-Term
- Prefrontal Cortex