EEG alpha and theta oscillations reflect cognitive and memory performance: a review and analysis.

By Wolfgang Klimesch. 1999

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

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In Cognitive Neuroscience

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Citations in the corpus

Aperiodic neural timescales in prefrontal cortex dilate with increased task abstraction (2025, unknown): “…the scope of our statistical analyses to the theta oscillatory peaks detected in the prefrontal electrode cluster, and alpha oscillatory peaks detected in the posterior electrode cluster, due to these sites being the canonical loci of theta/alpha oscillations during cognitive control (47,48).”
The development of theta and alpha neural oscillations from ages 3 to 24 years (2021, unknown): “…dominant peak frequency relative to the frontal-midline cluster (Results 3.2) and based on findings from previous work suggesting that the dominant oscillatory signature is primarily located in posterior cortices (Klimesch, 1999), including in childhood through to adulthood (Chiang et al., 2011).”
Causal Evidence for a Role of Theta and Alpha Oscillations in the Control of Working Memory (2020, background): “Because theta and alpha oscillations are theorized to play opposite roles in either prioritizing or suppressing representations [14, 27, 28], we predicted that the beneficial (or detrimental) impact of rhythmic TMS on performance would depend on whether the TMS frequency was matched (or mismatched) ”
Complex memories induced by intracranial electrical brain stimulation are related to complex networks. (2024, unknown): “Theta synchronization could reﬂect preferentially episodic memory processes, whereas alpha synchronization and desynchronization could be related to semantic long-term memory (Klimesch, 1999).”
Human alpha frequency and expression across the lifespan: a 2,172-participant electrophysiology-MRI atlas (2026, unknown): “It is now also associated with sensory selection, inhibition, attention, and the temporal organization of neural activity [3-7].”
Revolutionizing Pediatric Neurophysiology With Magnetoencephalography (2026, unknown): “…in children), there is a need to differentiate between maturation of parietal-occipital alpha rhythms modulated by closing and opening the eyes (Klimesch 1999; Adrian and Matthews 1934; Berger 1929), sensorimotor alpha rhythms modulated by somatosensory input and movements (mu rhythms)…”
The Interaction between Sleep and Development on Wake EEG Oscillations (2026, unknown): “Many researchers advocate for the use of an individual alpha frequency (IAF) to de ﬁ ne frequency ranges, especially when analyzing data across development (Klimesch, 1999; Bazanova and Vernon, 2014; Ostlund et al., 2022; Tröndle et al., 2022).”
Resting-state periodic and aperiodic brain oscillations from birth to preschool years: Aperiodic maturity predicts developmental course (2026, unknown): “In older child and adult electrophysiology RS studies, brain measures are often obtained in an eyes-closed condition, as the RS dominant peak is much stronger when the eyes are closed than open (Klimesch, 1999; Berger, 1929; Adrian and Matthews, 1934; Edgar, 2023).”
Confirmation of a Useful Dark‐Room Resting‐State Procedure: Periodic and Aperiodic MEG Activity in Children (2026, unknown): “…(b) is associated with primary sensory activity (Neuper et al. 2006; Weisz et al. 2011), (c) is associated with working memory and processing speed (Klimesch 1999; Edgar et al. 2019; Klimesch et al. 1996), (d) is thought to be central to how local networks process information, likely via the…”
Electroencephalogram features support the retrogenesis hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease: Exploratory comparison of brain changes in aging and childhood (2025, unknown): “55 Higher coherence in this band indicates stronger synchronization and more effective communication across a speci ﬁ c pair of regions.”
Lifespan Trajectories of Alpha Rhythm: Dynamic Shifts in Neural Excitation-Inhibition Balance (2025, unknown): “Our results are also consistent with numerous previous studies on the functions of alpha rhythms 133–138 .”
Reevaluating the neural noise in dyslexia using biomarkers from electroencephalography and high-resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopy (2025, unknown): “For the same reason, we could not analyze results for the theta band, which often does not meet the criteria for an oscillatory component manifested as a peak in the power spectrum ( Klimesch, 1999 ).”
Why does invasive brain stimulation sometimes improve memory and sometimes impair it? (2024, unknown): “In particular, key hippocampal signals, such as ripple oscillations and 4-to 8-Hz theta rhythms, are vital for synaptic plasticity and memory in encoding, consolidation, and retrieval of information in spatial navigation, working memory, and long-term memory formation [74–77].”
Resting-state EEG correlates of sustained attention in healthy ageing: Cross-sectional findings from the LEISURE study. (2024, background): “…may be understood through the framework of cognitive preparedness, reflecting the brain ’ s capacity for optimal cognitive performance (Angelakis et al., 2004) at baseline, particularly in the parieto-occipital cortex, which is integral to visual and spatial information processing (Klimesch, 1999).”
Maturational changes in frontal EEG alpha and theta activity from infancy into early childhood and the relation with self-regulation in boys and girls (2024, background): “A possible explanation for the null finding might therefore be that the traditional EEG band analysis (e. g., infant and adult bands) leads to overly wide boundaries, in which the variations in age-related changes might be blurred (Klimesch, 1999).”
Theta activity and cognitive functioning: Integrating evidence from resting-state and task-related developmental electroencephalography (EEG) research (2024, background): “In adulthood, the peak of oscillatory activity shifts to the alpha range (8 – 12 Hz; Chiang et al., 2011; Klimesch, 1999).”
Age-Related Characteristics of Resting-State Electroencephalographic Signals and the Corresponding Analytic Approaches: A Review (2024, background): “This alpha suppression is known to facilitate the transmission of sensorimotor information and memory processes [87,92,93].”
Wake EEG oscillation dynamics reflect both sleep pressure and brain maturation across childhood and adolescence (2024, unknown): “Many researchers advocate for the use of an individual alpha frequency (IAF) to define frequency ranges (Bazanova & Vernon, 2014; Klimesch, 1999; Tröndle et al., 2022).”
Comparison of power spectra from overnight electro-encephalography between patients with Down syndrome and matched control subjects (2024, unknown): “…controls, we also showed that the rate of increase in alpha power with increasing age, which is expected for young adults according to previous studies (Klimesch, 1999), was significantly slower in patients with DS than controls, most prominently in the central regions of the brain (C3 and C4).”