Mnemonic and attentional roles for states of attenuated alpha oscillations in perceptual working memory: a review

Journal article

Alpha oscillations are often reported to be amplified during working memory retention, serving to disengage sensory areas to protect internal representations from external interference. At the same time, contemporary views of working memory postulate that sensory areas may often also be recruited for retention. I here review recent evidence that during such 'perceptual' working memory, alpha oscillations in mnemonically relevant sensory areas are not amplified but attenuated instead. I will argue that such attenuated alpha states serve a mnemonic role and, further, that larger attenuation may support item-specific attentional prioritisation within perceptual working memory. In critically evaluating this role, I also consider (and argue against) four alternatives to a strictly mnemonic account of the available data that may also prove useful to consider in future research. Finally, I highlight key implications of these data for the study of working memory and for our understanding of the functional roles of states of attenuated alpha oscillations in cognition.

Authors: van Ede, F

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: European Journal of Neuroscience
• Volume: 48
• Issue: 7
• Pages: 2509-2515
• Publication date: 2017-11-22
• Acceptance date: 2017-10-19
• DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13759
• EISSN: 1460-9568
• ISSN: 0953-816X
• Pmid: 29068095
• Language: English
• Keywords: attentional prioritisation; sensory recruitment; neuronal oscillations; electroencephalography (EEG); working memory retention