Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Working memory (WM), short term maintenance of information for goal directed behavior, is essential to human cognition. Identifying the neural mechanisms supporting WM is a focal point of neuroscientific research. One prominent theory hypothesizes that WM content is carried in "activity-silent" brain states involving short-term synaptic changes. Information carried in such brain states could be decodable from content-specific changes in responses to unrelated "impulse stimuli". Here, we used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS) as the impulse stimulus and then decoded content maintained in WM from EEG using multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) with robust non-parametric permutation testing. The decoding accuracy of WM content significantly enhanced after spTMS was delivered to the posterior superior temporal cortex during WM maintenance. Our results show that WM maintenance involves brain states, which are activity silent relative to other intrinsic processes visible in the EEG signal.
Source: Brain stimulation
Language: English
Subfield: Neurology
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,430
Awards: G1330075975, G1468570532, G2082452676, G3252607384, G378171426, Collaborative robot (cobot) controlled system for transcranial magnetic stimulation, G5902621896, G7634235415, Wearable RF-EEG Cap for closed loopTMS/fMRI/EEG Applications, G9000023322, G9000050766, G9000052245, G9000117333, G9000324874, Near real-time system for high-resolution computationalTMS navigation, Re-Wiring the Human Brain, Charge-Based Brain Modeling Engine with Boundary Element Fast Multipole Method
OpenAlex ID: W4408029629