Distinct Oscillatory Dynamics Underlie Different Components of Hierarchical Cognitive Control

By Justin Riddle, David A. Vogelsang, Kai Hwang, Dillan Cellier, Mark D'Esposito. Journal of Neuroscience, 2020

47 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Hierarchical cognitive control enables us to execute actions guided by abstract goals. Previous research has suggested that neuronal oscillations at different frequency bands are associated with top-down cognitive control; however, whether distinct neural oscillations have similar or different functions for cognitive control is not well understood. The aim of the current study was to investigate the oscillatory neuronal mechanisms underlying two distinct components of hierarchical cognitive control: the level of abstraction of a rule, and the number of rules that must be maintained (set-size). We collected EEG data in 31 men and women who performed a hierarchical cognitive control task that varied in levels of abstraction and set-size. Results from time-frequency analysis in frontal electrodes showed an increase in theta amplitude for increased set-size, whereas an increase in δ was associated with increased abstraction. Both theta and δ amplitude correlated with behavioral performance in the tasks but in an opposite manner: theta correlated with response time slowing when the number of rules increased, whereas δ correlated with response time when rules became more abstract. Phase-amplitude coupling analysis revealed that δ phase-coupled with β amplitude during conditions with a higher level of abstraction, whereby beta band may potentially represent motor output that was guided by the δ phase. These results suggest that distinct neural oscillatory mechanisms underlie different components of hierarchical cognitive control. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Cognitive control allows us to perform immediate actions while maintaining more abstract, overarching goals in mind and to choose between competing actions. We found distinct oscillatory signatures that correspond to two different components of hierarchical control: the level of abstraction of a rule and the number of rules in competition. An increase in the level of abstraction was associated with δ oscillations, whereas theta oscillations were observed when the number of rules increased. Oscillatory amplitude correlated with behavioral performance in the task. Finally, the expression of β amplitude was coordinated via the phase of δ oscillations, and theta phase-coupled with γ amplitude. These results suggest that distinct neural oscillatory mechanisms underlie different components of hierarchical cognitive control.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

View Paper: https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0617-20.2020

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cognitive Neuroscience

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Citations in the corpus

Resting After Learning Facilitates Memory Consolidation and Reverses Spatial Reorientation Impairments in Female 3xTg-AD Mice (2026, unknown): “To determine signi ﬁ cant differences in comodulation during the real world and previously collected data using the virtual version of the task, we performed cluster-mass permutation testing, 68 using the average t-value within a signi ﬁ cant cluster to evaluate signi ﬁ cance.”
Cognitive state dependent enhancement of cognitive control with transcranial magnetic stimulation (2026, unknown): “In addition, cognitive control is thought to operate through theta band activity which synchronises neural assemblies to integrate contextual information and enable flexible goal-directed control 37,71,92,93 .”
Neural investigation of default effects on decision-making under uncertainty (2026, unknown): “Previous findings have indicated that theta oscillations are associated with working memory and tend to increase in amplitude during tasks that require cognitive control 34,36,37 .”
Macroscopic EEG reveals discriminative low-frequency oscillations in plan-to-grasp visuomotor tasks (2025, unknown): “…(figure 5) show discriminative theta patterns in parieto-occipital and frontal regions during planning, similar to the findings Riddle et al [38] and Pagnotta et al [39], who demonstrated that theta oscillations (4–7 Hz) in frontal and parietal networks reflect the maintenance of rules…”
Augmenting single-session behavioral activation for depression with delta-beta tACS: Preliminary investigation of a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized pilot clinical trial (2025, unknown): “For example, in a hierarchical cognitive control task where there were context cues that needed to be processed in order to make the correct decision, we found increased prefrontal delta oscillations and modulated motor beta oscillations that correlated with response time [39,40].”
Oscillatory signatures of monitoring and anticipatory strategies for probabilistic vs deterministic cues (2025, unknown): “…implicated in cognitive control, acting as a regulatory mechanism that influences the selection and implementation of strategies during decision-making processes ( Cohen & Donner, 2013; Ertl et al., 2013; Rajan et al., 2019; Riddle et al., 2020; Senoussi et al., 2022; Wendiggensen et al., 2022).”
Theta power reduction and theta–gamma coupling desynchronization are associated with working memory interference and anxiety symptoms in panic disorder: a retrospective study (2024, unknown): “Phase-amplitude coupling (PAC), a type of CFC, reflects the interactions between cognitive functions and inter-areal communication by showing how the phases of slower oscillations modulate the amplitude of faster oscillations [41, 44, 45].”
Interplay between preclinical indices of obesity and neural signatures of fluid intelligence in youth (2024, unknown): “For example, Riddle et al. 94 found that frontal theta activity became stronger with greater task demands, such as larger set sizes in a hierarchical cognitive control task 94 , and others have found that greater cognitive demands during working memory tasks scale with oscillatory theta power 95,96 ”
Multimodal neuroimaging of hierarchical cognitive control. (2024, methodology): “It was found that different components of control are mediated by two distinct cross-frequency coupling modalities (delta-beta or theta-gamma), which was derived from previous observations (Riddle et al., 2020) (see also above).”
Gender Differences in Hierarchical Cognitive Control of Emotion: An EEG Study (2024, unknown): “The paradigm in this study integrated the emotional factor into a classical framework [12, 13, 17, 18], and designed an emotional hierarchical cognitive control task.”
Get ready! High urgency reduces beta band cortico-muscular coherence during motor preparation (2024, unknown): “This may indicate increased cognitive (Riddle et al., 2020) and motor preparation (e.g., inhibiting a motor memory to prevent a false start) (Tempel et al., 2020) demands under high urgency to move that we thought could be linked to increased CMC.”