RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Neural oscillations track the maintenance and proceduralization of novel instructions
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.01.20.912162
DO 10.1101/2020.01.20.912162
A1 Silvia Formica
A1 Carlos González-García
A1 Mehdi Senoussi
A1 Marcel Brass
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/11/25/2020.01.20.912162.abstract
AB Humans are capable of flexibly converting symbolic instructions into novel behaviors. Previous evidence and theoretical models suggest that the implementation of a novel instruction requires the reformatting of its declarative content into an action-oriented code optimized for the execution of the instructed behavior. While neuroimaging research focused on identifying the brain areas involved in such a process, the temporal and electrophysiological mechanisms remain poorly understood. These mechanisms, however, can provide information about the specific cognitive processes that characterize the proceduralization of information. In the present study, we recorded EEG activity while we asked participants to either simply maintain declaratively the content of novel S-R mappings or to proactively prepare for their implementation. By means of time-frequency analyses, we isolated the oscillatory features specific to the proceduralization of instructions. Implementation of the instructed mappings elicited stronger theta activity over frontal electrodes and suppression in mu and beta activity over central electrodes. On the contrary, activity in the alpha band, which has been shown to track the attentional deployment to task-relevant items, showed no differences between tasks. Together, these results support the idea that proceduralization of information is characterized by specific component processes such as orchestrating complex task settings and configuring the motor system that are not observed when instructions are held in a declarative format.HighlightsFrontal theta power is increased during instructions implementationAttentional orienting in WM is analogous across maintenance and implementationInstructions implementation involves motor recruitmentCompeting Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.