Neural acceleration drives adaptations in working memory encoding speed

Humans and non-human animals adaptively boost their encoding speed when they expect limited sensory exposure time, so that they can capture essential information before it is gone. However, it is uncl...

biorxiv.org

Sensory horizons and the functions of conscious vision | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core

Sensory horizons and the functions of conscious vision - Volume 49

cambridge.org

No, Artificial Intelligence Is Not Conscious

Taken to its logical conclusion, this line of thinking is absurd—and damning.

theatlantic.com

6 tips van een neurowetenschapper zodat jij (of je vrienden) niet altijd te laat komt

Sleutels kwijt, telefoon vergeten en ‘o, nog even dit doen’: voor je het weet ben je alwéér te laat. Hoe kan dat toch? We vroegen het aan neurowetenschapper (en ervaringsdeskundige) Joost de Jong, die...

quest.nl

Sustained alpha oscillations serve attentional prioritization in working memory, not maintenance

Abstract. Recent theory on the neural basis of working memory (WM) has attributed an important role to “activity-silent” or -quiescent mechanisms, suggesting that sustained neural activity might not be essential in the retention of information. This idea has been challenged by reports of ongoing neural activity in the alpha band during WM maintenance, however. The precise role of these alpha oscillations is unclear: Do they reflect attentional prioritization of stored information, or do they serve as a general maintenance mechanism, for instance to periodically refresh synaptic traces? To address this, we designed a visual WM task involving two memory items, one of which was prioritized by being tested first for recall. The task included both short (1 second) and long (3 seconds) delay intervals between encoding and retrieval. The long delay condition allowed us to test whether the alpha-based decoding effects persist beyond the early delay period, thereby putting accounts that attribute alpha activity to generic maintenance processes to the test. Time-resolved decoding analyses revealed that both tested-first and tested-second items were initially decodable following stimulus presentation. However, only the tested-first item exhibited sustained decodability throughout the delay, particularly in the long delay condition, where it transitioned into a stable coding scheme. This prolonged representation was selectively supported by induced alpha power, which reliably tracked the prioritized tested-first item, but not the deprioritized tested-second item. Impulse-based decoding further confirmed this asymmetry, showing a selective increase in readout for the tested-second item only when it became immediately task relevant. Together, these findings suggest that sustained alpha-band activity primarily reflects attentional prioritization, rather than general memory maintenance. Unattended, deprioritized items appear to transition into an activity-quiescent state, consistent with models of synaptic storage in WM.

doi.org

OSF

doi.org

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

pnas.org

Will online behavioral research follow the fate of online survey research? | PNAS

Will online behavioral research follow the fate of online survey research?

pnas.org

Default mode network connectivity predicts individual differences in long-term forgetting: Evidence for storage degradation, not retrieval failure

Author summary Why do some people forget faster than others? This study investigates individual differences in long-term memory forgetting by linking them to patterns of brain connectivity. Although m...

doi.org

​Onderzoekers: zomer voorbijgevlogen, maar begin voelt ook wel weer lang geleden

De zomer is echt voorbij gevlógen. Dat stellen onderzoekers van de Universiteit Utrecht.

speld.nl

Rapid Invisible Frequency Tagging (RIFT) with a consumer monitor: A proof-of-concept

Rapid Invisible Frequency Tagging (RIFT) enables neural frequency tagging at rates above the flicker fusion threshold, eliciting steady-state responses to flicker that is almost imperceptible. While R...

biorxiv.org

Job Opening

Annonce d'ouverture de poste

unige.ch

Vacatures bij de RUG

rug.nl

Event structure sculpts neural population dynamics in the lateral entorhinal cortex

Our experience of the world is a continuous stream of events that must be segmented and organized at multiple timescales. The neural mechanisms underlying this process remain unknown. In this work, we...

science.org

Using AI for peer reviewing is like using a microwave to reheat an old meal - Pascal Mamassian, 2025

doi.org

Neuroscience needs to empower early-career researchers, not fund moon shots

Large-scale projects run the risk of stifling scientific independence. Instead, let’s explore alternative mechanisms of collaboration.

thetransmitter.org

The rise and fall of memories: Temporal dynamics of visual working memory - Memory & Cognition

Visual working memory (VWM) is a cognitive system, which temporarily stores task-relevant visual information to enable interactions with the environment. In everyday VWM use, we typically decide how l...

doi.org

AI is ‘beating’ humans at empathy and creativity. But these games are rigged | MJ Crockett

Research pitting people against AI systems gives AI an edge by asking us to perform in machine-like ways

theguardian.com

Prior knowledge changes initial sensory processing in the human spinal cord

High-frequency signals at a neuronal population level reveal a cognitive influence on sensory processing in the human spinal cord.

science.org

APA PsycNet

psycnet.apa.org

authors.elsevier.com