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From flexible to anticipatory processing: alpha and beta oscillatory signatures of feedback-guided strategy adaptation and memory updating

Poster Session C - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 5:00 – 7:00 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Maya Al Safadi¹ (), Alex Chatburn¹, Zachariah Cross², Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky¹; ¹Adelaide University, Adelaide, Australia, ²La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

While learning to navigate uncertainties in the environment, the human brain seeks to minimize future errors by continuously refining its internal model via memory updating (MU). Prior research demonstrates that feedback is crucial for MU and that anticipatory neural mechanisms influence performance feedback processing. This process is additionally modulated by memory certainty. However, as previous research has primarily examined post-feedback neural activity, certainty-related pre-feedback mechanisms are less well understood. The present study examined how certainty modulates anticipatory processes preceding performance feedback and subsequent MU. We examined oscillatory brain activity prior to performance feedback in a reanalysis of EEG data previously published by Hassall and colleagues (2023). Twenty-one participants (16 female, M = 25.81 years) predicted the strength of six gnomes with varying certainty levels (high, medium, low) using an interactive sliding bar. Certainty levels were learned through exposure. Feedback on prediction accuracy was presented via an animated rising bar. Single-trial linear mixed-effects models with performance accuracy as the outcome variable revealed an interaction between certainty and learning stage: higher performance corresponded to increased pre-feedback alpha and beta power for lower certainty trials in late learning, but decreased beta power in early learning stages. These learning-related modulations in pre-feedback alpha and beta power suggest that initial learning is marked by adaptable exploratory processing. Subsequent learning exhibited increased alpha-mediated inhibition and beta-related anticipatory activity for lower certainty trials, indicative of dynamic strategy refinement and selective engagement of task-relevant information. These results demonstrate that certainty shapes preparatory oscillatory activity that supports feedback-based MU.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Other