Encoded and updated spatial working memories share a common representational format in alpha activity

• Published in: iScience Vol. 27; no. 2; p. 108963
• Main Authors: Günseli, Eren, Foster, Joshua J., Sutterer, David W., Todorova, Lara, Vogel, Edward K., Awh, Edward
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 16.02.2024; Elsevier
• Subjects: Neuroscience; Techniques in neuroscience; Techniques in neuroscience; Neuroscience
• ISSN: 2589-0042; 2589-0042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.108963

Working memory (WM) flexibly updates information to adapt to the dynamic environment. Here, we used alpha-band activity in the EEG to reconstruct the content of dynamic WM updates and compared this representational format to static WM content. An inverted encoding model using alpha activity precisely tracked both the initially encoded position and the updated position following an auditory cue signaling mental updating. The timing of the update, as tracked in the EEG, correlated with reaction times and saccade latency. Finally, cross-training analyses revealed a robust generalization of alpha-band reconstruction of WM contents before and after updating. These findings demonstrate that alpha activity tracks the dynamic updates to spatial WM and that the format of this activity is preserved across the encoded and updated representations. Thus, our results highlight a new approach for measuring updates to WM and show common representational formats during dynamic mental updating and static storage. [Display omitted] •Novel method to track voluntary transformations of mental representations•Alpha activity dynamically tracks updates in spatial working memory•The tracked updating rate predicts response times•Encoded and updated working memories share a common representational format Neuroscience; Techniques in neuroscience