Frontal Midline Theta Oscillations during Working Memory Maintenance and Episodic Encoding and Retrieval

By Liang-Tien Hsieh, Charan Ranganath. NeuroImage, 2013

510 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Neural oscillations in the theta band (4-8 Hz) are prominent in the human electroencephalogram (EEG), and many recent electrophysiological studies in animals and humans have implicated scalp-recorded frontal midline theta (FMT) in working memory and episodic memory encoding and retrieval processes. However, the functional significance of theta oscillations in human memory processes remains largely unknown. Here, we review studies in human and animals examining how scalp-recorded FMT relates to memory behaviors and also their possible neural generators. We also discuss models of the functional relevance of theta oscillations to memory processes and suggest promising directions for future research.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fc1680f55b2f2cf5d51c0f8ea06e64ac22a70f54

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In Cognitive Neuroscience

Citations in the corpus

Distributed theta networks support the control of working memory: Evidence from scalp and intracranial EEG (2025, unknown): “…(FMT; 4-8 Hz) activity is linked to executive control during maintenance and manipulation of information over short time scales (Cavanagh & Frank, 2014; Cavanagh & Shackman, 2015; Hsieh & Ranganath, 2014; Itthipuripat et al., 2013; Sauseng et al., 2010; Maurer et al., 2015; Mitchell et al., 2008).”
The Functional Interactions between Cortical Regions through Theta-Gamma Coupling during Resting-State and a Visual Working Memory Task (2022, background): “Theta and gamma activity are more involved in WM mechanisms than in other types of mechanisms [79].”
Resting-state EEG connectome topology and social norm processing in healthy young adults (2026, unknown): “Theta oscillations, particularly in frontal regions, have been linked to executive monitoring, emotional regulation, 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…”
Alpha phase coding supports feature binding during working memory maintenance (2026, unknown): “…especially over midline frontal areas, are consistently associated with the active maintenance and coordination of information in WM. Frontal-midline theta power increases with memory load and task dif ﬁ culty, suggesting a role in executive control and the allocation of cognitive resources 51,52 .”
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).”
Spatiotemporal patterns of theta-band activity during rapid-eye movement sleep: a magnetoencephalography analysis (2024, background): “Theta activity associated with working memory processes has previously been observed in frontal midline regions (Hsieh & Ranganath, 2014).”
The strength of anticipated distractors shapes EEG alpha and theta oscillations in a Working Memory task (2024, background): “Theta oscillations in WM have been associated with different mechanisms, possibly coexisting and acting in parallel (see for review Hsieh and Ranganath, 2014; Sauseng et al., 2010); a general mechanism of mental effort and executive control, common to cognitive-demanding tasks and mainly related to…”
Effective connectivity of working memory performance: a DCM study of MEG data (2024, background): “…interpretation for previous ﬁndings of functional coupling of frontomedial theta (and alpha) with posterior brain regions during WM maintenance (Payne and Kounios, 2009; Hsieh and Ranganath, 2014; Johnson et al., 2017; Riddle et al., 2020; Parto Dezfouli et al., 2021; Ratcliﬀe et al., 2022).”
Inhibitory control in WM gate-opening: Insights from alpha desynchronization and norepinephrine activity under atDCS stimulation (2024, background): “Frontal theta band activity is often interpreted as a marker of cognitive control (Cavanagh and Frank, 2014) and plays an integrative role in controlling working memory processes such as encoding and retrieval (Hsieh and Ranganath, 2014; Sauseng et al., 2010).”
Neural signatures of competition between voluntary and involuntary influences over the focus of attention in visual working memory (2023, background): “FMT has long been associated with cognitive con-trol (e.g., Cavanagh & Frank, 2014; Hsieh & Ranganath, 2014; Sauseng et al., 2010) and the fact that postcue FMT was higher on anti-than pro-retrocue trials is consistent with a role in controlling the competition for selection (for a recent preprint…”
Would frontal midline theta indicate cognitive changes induced by non-invasive brain stimulation? A mini review (2023, background): “Frontal midline-theta has been associated with broad cognitive functions (Cavanagh and Frank, 2014; Hsieh and Ranganath, 2014; Ishii et al., 2014; Herweg et al., 2020) and it has been suggested that it would indicate different processes depending on task requirements (Eschmann et al.”
Exploring Physiological Correlates of Visual Complexity Adaptation: Insights from EDA, ECG, and EEG Data for Adaptation Evaluation in VR Adaptive Systems (2023, unknown): “ganizing and retrieving information were recruited [33, 55].”
Prioritizing flexible working memory representations through retrospective attentional strengthening (2023, unknown): “Previous studies found that midline theta power was involved in the control of WM (Hsieh and Ranganath, 2014).”