Causal Evidence for a Role of Theta and Alpha Oscillations in the Control of Working Memory

By Justin Riddle, Jason M. Scimeca, Dillan Cellier, Sofia Dhanani, Mark D'Esposito. Current Biology, 2020

224 citations recorded by the source corpus.

SUMMARY Working memory (WM) relies on the prioritization of relevant information and suppression of irrelevant information [1,2]. Prioritizing relevant information has been linked to theta frequency neural oscillations in lateral prefrontal cortex and suppressing irrelevant information has been linked to alpha oscillations in occipito-parietal cortex [3]. Here, we used a retrospective-cue WM paradigm to manipulate prioritization and suppression task demands designed to drive theta oscillations in prefrontal cortex and alpha oscillations in parietal cortex, respectively. To causally test the role of these neural oscillations, we applied rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in either theta or alpha frequency to prefrontal and parietal regions identified using functional MRI. The effect of rhythmic TMS on WM performance was dependent on whether the TMS frequency matched or mismatched the expected underlying task-driven oscillations of the targeted region. Functional MRI in the targeted regions predicted subsequent TMS effects across subjects supporting a model by which theta oscillations are excitatory to neural activity, and alpha oscillations are inhibitory. Together, these results causally establish dissociable roles for prefrontal theta oscillations and parietal alpha oscillations in the control of internally maintained WM representations.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

View Paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.02.065

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Citations in the corpus

Aperiodic neural timescales in prefrontal cortex dilate with increased task abstraction (2025, unknown): “The hierarchical cognitive control task developed for Riddle et al., 2020 was the same used for Riddle et al., 2021.”
Back in time: Reversed speech as a window into cognitive language processing—A systematic review (2026, unknown): “A proposed neural mechanism for these network-level interactions are cortical oscillations and the cross-coupling between them (Aktürk et al., 2022; Riddle et al., 2020, 2021).”
Tuning out emotional distractors by tuning in theta rhythm: improving visual working memory using transcranial magnetic stimulation (2026, unknown): “2017, Riddle et al .”
Resting-state EEG connectome topology and social norm processing in healthy young adults (2026, unknown): “…and rule maintenance (Hsieh and Ranganath 2014; Cavanagh and Frank 2014; Adamczyk and Wyczesany 2023 ), whereas alpha rhythms support the gating of internally oriented processing and the inhibition of task-irrelevant information (Benedek et al. 2011; Klimesch 2012; Fries 2015; Riddle et al. 2020 ).”
Distinct neural oscillations predict individual differences in feedback-guided cognitive flexibility (2026, unknown): “…of EEG research showing that pre-frontal and midline θ -band amplitudes enable cognitive flexibility control ( Cooper et al. 2015; Duprez et al. 2020; Riddle et al. 2020; Sauseng and Liesefeld 2020; Muralidharan et al. 2023; Khan et al. 2025), here, we found θ amplitudes to strengthen during Shift…”
Visual field map size constrains working memory precision (2026, unknown): “The size of IPS2/3 could thus correlate with working memory as a source of top-down signals that control the contents of working memory in early visual areas such as V1 (Gazzaley & Nobre, 2012; Jerde et al., 2012; Li et al., 2025; Rahmati et al., 2018; Riddle et al., 2020).”
Haemodynamic correlates of bilateral 6 Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation during working memory enhancement revealed by fNIRS (2026, unknown): “For example, 6 Hz stimulation may enhance inter-regional neural coupling and network coordination through phase alignment, thereby modulating prefrontal–parietal theta networks and improving cognitive eﬃciency (Riddle et al., 2020; Van Hoornweder et al., 2025).”
Alpha phase coding supports feature binding during working memory maintenance (2026, unknown): “Whileourresultshighlighttheimportanceofalpha activity, oscillatory activity in the theta (4 – 8 Hz) frequency band also plays a critical role in the neural mechanisms underlying WM maintenance, and the two are thought to re ﬂ ect distinct yet complementary functional processes 50 .”
Electroencephalography in motor decision-making: a scoping review in athletes (2026, unknown): “For internally guided planning, “neural efficiency” is better seen as task-specific changes in brain rhythms (e.g., θ / α synchronization or desynchronization in task-relevant networks) rather than a global reduction in activation (Riddle et al., 2020).”
How the influence of cingulate-lingual interactions on event segmentation changes from early to late adolescence (2026, unknown): “Moreover, high alpha band activity in the insular cortex likely indicates the integration of information from event schemata into the working event model, as alpha band activity is linked to episodic memory retrieval and active working memory 20,67,68 .”
Resting-state periodic and aperiodic brain oscillations from birth to preschool years: Aperiodic maturity predicts developmental course (2026, unknown): “…with dominant oscillation activity reflecting the excitability of a cortical region (Haegens, 2011; Foxe and Snyder, 2011; Klimesch et al., 2007; Riddle, 2020), associated with top-down cognitive control processes (Buschman and Miller, 2007; Hwang, 2014; van Die-pen, 2015), and with an increase…”
Higher integration of the whole-brain resting state theta band network is associated with spatial working memory (2026, unknown): “In particular, theta oscillations have consistently been implicated in WM control (Riddle et al., 2020; Sauseng et al., 2010; Hsieh and Ranganath, 2014), while beta rhythms have been linked to motor and maintenance processes (Engel and Fries, 2010).”
Brain causality alterations in major depressive disorder treatment (2026, unknown): “This frequency dissociation may explain why some patients respond better to one treatment modality over another, and supports the development of frequency-targeted therapeutic interventions (59, 60).”
Dose-dependent power and connectivity modulation of low frequency oscillations through transcranial magnetic stimulation in non-human primates (2026, unknown): “While several studies have tested the effects of TMS on these oscillations (e.g., Chung et al., 2018; Riddle et al., 2020), the limitations of non-invasive EEG in terms of spatial resolution hinder a comprehensive understanding of how TMS influences these oscillatory patterns at a local and network…”
Human Beta Oscillations Reflect Magnitude and Fidelity of Priority Shifts in Working Memory (2026, unknown): “We focused on oscillations because previous work has implicated frontal slow oscillations in the delta/theta-band and posterior alpha-band power reductions (Poch et al., 2014; Wallis et al., 2015; de Vries et al., 2018; Riddle et al., 2020) in switching attention between items held in WM.”