working memory
Definition
Working memory refers to the capacity of holding and manipulating information, which underlies goal-directed behavior. It is studied using tasks that incorporate a maintenance period, during which information is kept in mind without external stimulation, and conditions that vary memory load and memory manipulation. Oscillatory brain activity, as measured with EEG, is significantly modulated during working memory performance, with research attention historically concentrated on frontal theta and posterior alpha rhythms. Beta oscillations in the 15 to 40 Hz range are also functionally modulated during working memory, with burst amplitude and duration decreasing under higher cognitive load while burst rate and peak frequency increase, and these changes cannot be attributed to non-sinusoidal properties of lower-frequency rhythms.
Sources: Rodriguez-Larios & Haegens (2023)
Related Terms
- neural oscillations (1 shared article)
- EEG (1 shared article)
Applications
Working Memory and Beta Oscillations
Beta bursts are transiently expressed neural events whose characteristics shift systematically with working memory demands. In a spatial working memory task with 27 healthy adults, genuine beta bursts isolated from the influence of alpha and theta harmonics showed reduced amplitude and duration under high memory load, alongside increased rate and peak frequency. These modulations held both during memory maintenance and during memory manipulation, establishing that beta oscillations carry functionally specific information rather than reflecting spectral artifacts of lower-frequency activity.
Sources: Rodriguez-Larios & Haegens (2023)
Working Memory and Cognitive Load
Cognitive load, operationalised as the number of spatial items to be remembered, produced measurable changes in beta burst parameters during working memory performance. High load relative to low load was associated with a reduction in burst duration (Cohen's d = 0.67) and amplitude (d = 0.32), and with an increase in burst frequency (d = 0.36) and rate (d = 0.19). Behavioral accuracy was also lower and response times longer in the high-load manipulation condition, confirming that the neural modulations tracked genuine increases in cognitive demand.
Sources: Rodriguez-Larios & Haegens (2023)
