Frontoparietal Beta Amplitude Modulation and its Interareal Cross-frequency Coupling in Visual Working Memory

Wei-Kuang Liang; Philip Tseng; Jia-Rong Yeh; Norden E Huang; Chi-Hung Juan

doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2021.02.013

Frontoparietal Beta Amplitude Modulation and its Interareal Cross-frequency Coupling in Visual Working Memory

Neuroscience. 2021 Apr 15:460:69-87. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2021.02.013. Epub 2021 Feb 13.

Authors

Wei-Kuang Liang¹, Philip Tseng², Jia-Rong Yeh³, Norden E Huang⁴, Chi-Hung Juan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Cognitive Intelligence and Precision Healthcare Center, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Brain Research Center, College of Health Sciences and Technology, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: wkliang@cc.ncu.edu.tw.
² Graduate Institute of Mind, Brain and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Brain and Consciousness Research Center, TMU-Shuang Ho Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
³ Brain Research Center, College of Health Sciences and Technology, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Data Analysis and Application Laboratory, The First Institute of Oceanography, Qingdao, China.
⁴ Cognitive Intelligence and Precision Healthcare Center, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Brain Research Center, College of Health Sciences and Technology, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Data Analysis and Application Laboratory, The First Institute of Oceanography, Qingdao, China.
⁵ Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Cognitive Intelligence and Precision Healthcare Center, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Brain Research Center, College of Health Sciences and Technology, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Psychology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

PMID: 33588001
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2021.02.013

Abstract

Visual working memory (VWM) relies on sustained neural activities that code information via various oscillatory frequencies. Previous studies, however, have emphasized time-frequency power changes, while overlooking the possibility that rhythmic amplitude variations can also code frequency-specific VWM information in a completely different dimension. Here, we employed the recently-developed Holo-Hilbert spectral analysis to characterize such nonlinear amplitude modulation(s) (AM) underlying VWM in the frontoparietal systems. We found that the strength of AM in mid-frontal beta and gamma oscillations during late VWM maintenance and VWM retrieval correlated with people's VWM performance. When behavioral performance was altered with transcranial electric stimulation, AM power changes during late VWM maintenance in beta, but not gamma, tracked participants' VWM variations. This beta AM likely codes information by varying its amplitude in theta period for long-range propagation, as our connectivity analysis revealed that interareal theta-beta couplings-bidirectional between mid-frontal and right-parietal during VWM maintenance and unidirectional from right-parietal to left-middle-occipital during late VWM maintenance and retrieval-underpins VWM performance and individual differences.

Keywords: Holo-Hilbert spectral analysis; amplitude modulation; frontoparietal network; tDCS; visual working memory.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Memory, Short-Term*
Visual Perception*