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Beta oscillatory—not burst—dynamics support priority coding in working memory

Poster Session F - Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Jacqueline M. Fulvio¹ (), Bradley R. Postle¹; ¹University of Wisconsin—Madison

Flexible control of working memory (WM) requires prioritizing immediately relevant information while deprioritizing information with potential future relevance. We examined the role of oscillatory dynamics in priority coding. With double serial retrocuing (DSR), we manipulated prioritization in WM by presenting two oriented sample gratings, then a cue indicating which sample will be tested at “Recall1,” then Recall 1, then a cue indicating which sample (equal probability) will be tested by “Recall 2”. A matched neutral-cue condition (NEU) used uninformative cues. Experiment 1 used dense behavioral sampling, varying the cue-to-recall delay from 500 ms-1200 ms, in 16.67 ms increments, and permutation-based FFT indicated that mean absolute error on DSR oscillated at ~15 Hz (i.e., “low-beta”) and on NEU at ~20 Hz (i.e., “higher-beta”). We interpret these beta events ~1200 ms as oscillations rather than bursts. For Experiment 2, we recorded EEG. Using Specparam (previously FOOOF) to identify oscillatory peaks, we observed that, for DSR only, the cue shifted the distribution of oscillations to the low-beta range. Finally, we carried out a time-resolved representational similarity analysis (RSA), which also fluctuated across the delay period. FFT of the RSA time course revealed that whereas, for DSR, the cue increased peak density in low-beta, for NEU, it increased peak density in “higher-beta.” Whereas many recent accounts have emphasized a role for beta bursting in the implementation of cognitive control, these results—from behavior, raw EEG, and RSA of EEG—suggest a role for prolonged oscillatory activity in the low-beta band in controlling priority in WM.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Working memory