Frontal theta activity in humans increases with memory load in a working memory task
Abstract
Recent theoretical work has suggested that brain oscillations in the theta band are involved in active maintenance and recall of working memory representations. To test this theoretical framework we recorded neuromagnetic responses from 10 subjects performing the Sternberg task. Subjects were required to retain a list of 1, 3, 5 or 7 visually presented digits during a 3‐s retention period. During the retention period we observed ongoing frontal theta activity in the 7–8.5‐Hz band recorded by sensors over frontal brain areas. The activity in the theta band increased parametrically with the number of items retained in working memory. A time–frequency analysis revealed that the task‐dependent theta was present during the retention period and during memory scanning. Following the memory task the theta activity was reduced. These results suggest that theta oscillations generated in frontal brain regions play an active role in memory maintenance.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The increase of theta activity during memory tasks is typically reported over the frontal areas.
“The above-mentioned increase of theta activity has been typically reported over the frontal areas (Klimesch et al., 1996, 1997, 2006; Jensen and Tesche, 2002; Molle et al., 2002).”
From EEG oscillations during sleep and dream recall: state- or trait-like individual differences? (2015) · cites this paper as Jensen and Tesche, 2002
Theta activity during a delay period is associated with recall accuracy.
“(2) theta activity during a delay period (the period of time between the presentation and a stimulus and the subsequent recollection of that stimulus) is associated with recall accuracy (Gevins, Smith, McEvoy, & Yu, 1997; O. Jensen & Tesche, 2002; Raghavachari et al., 2001; Scheeringa et al., 2009).”
From Brain oscillations, hypnosis, and hypnotizability (2015) · cites this paper as O. Jensen & Tesche, 2002
Cites
Asada, H., Fukuda, Y., Tsunoda, S., Yamaguchi, M., & Tonoike, M. (1999) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/s0304-3940(99)00679-5 · Cited by 411 · cited 1× · see citing works
“In a recent study, combining EEG and MEG, additional theta sources were found in medial prefrontal cortex (Asada et al., 1999).”
Background
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Neuronal gamma-band synchronization as a fundamental process in cortical computation
Fries, P. (2009) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.051508.135603 · Cited by 1,713 · see citing works
Lisman, J. E., & Jensen, O. (2013) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2013.03.007 · Cited by 1,609 · see citing works
Self-citationIntegration of word meaning and world knowledge in language comprehension
Hagoort, P., Hald, L., Bastiaansen, M., & Petersson, K. M. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1095455 · Cited by 1,396 · see citing works
Episodic memory and beyond: the hippocampus and neocortex in transformation
Moscovitch, M., Cabeza, R., Winocur, G., & Nadel, L. (2016) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143733 · Cited by 1,062 · see citing works
Synchronous neural oscillations and cognitive processes
Ward, L. M. (2003) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2003.10.012 · Cited by 1,009 · see citing works
Vigilance, alertness, or sustained attention: physiological basis and measurement
Oken, B. S., Salinsky, M. C., & Elsas, S. M. (2006) · Clinical Neurophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2006.01.017 · Cited by 887 · see citing works
Gamma and Beta Bursts Underlie Working Memory
Lundqvist, M., Rose, J., Herman, P., Brincat, S. L., Buschman, T. J., & Miller, E. K. (2016) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2016.02.028 · Cited by 846 · see citing works
SAUSENG, P., KLIMESCH, W., SCHABUS, M., & DOPPELMAYR, M. (2005) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2005.03.018 · Cited by 814 · see citing works
Neural synchrony in cortical networks: history, concept and current status
Uhlhaas, P. (2009) · Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/neuro.07.017.2009 · Cited by 758 · see citing works
Theta and gamma oscillations predict encoding and retrieval of declarative memory
Osipova, D., Takashima, A., Oostenveld, R., Fernández, G., Maris, E., & Jensen, O. (2006) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1948-06.2006 · Cited by 671 · see citing works
Self-citationSynchronization of neural activity across cortical areas correlates with conscious perception
Melloni, L., Molina, C., Pena, M., Torres, D., Singer, W., & Rodriguez, E. (2007) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4623-06.2007 · Cited by 716 · see citing works
Theta lingua franca: A common mid‐frontal substrate for action monitoring processes
Cavanagh, J. F., Zambrano‐Vazquez, L., & Allen, J. J. B. (2012) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01293.x · Cited by 651 · see citing works
Uhlhaas, P. J., Haenschel, C., Nikolic, D., & Singer, W. (2008) · Schizophrenia Bulletin · doi:10.1093/schbul/sbn062 · Cited by 629 · see citing works
Frontal-midline theta from the perspective of hippocampal “theta”
Mitchell, D. J., McNaughton, N., Flanagan, D., & Kirk, I. J. (2008) · Progress in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2008.09.005 · Cited by 549 · see citing works
Theta power as a marker for cognitive interference
Nigbur, R., Ivanova, G., & Stürmer, B. (2011) · Clinical Neurophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2011.03.030 · Cited by 482 · see citing works
A 4 Hz oscillation adaptively synchronizes prefrontal, VTA, and hippocampal activities
Fujisawa, S., & Buzsáki, G. (2011) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2011.08.018 · Cited by 501 · see citing works
The Electrophysiological Dynamics of Interference during the Stroop Task
Hanslmayr, S., Pastötter, B., Bäuml, K.-H., Gruber, S., Wimber, M., & Klimesch, W. (2008) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn.2008.20020 · Cited by 510 · see citing works
Human hippocampal theta oscillations and the formation of episodic memories
Lega, B. C., Jacobs, J., & Kahana, M. (2012) · Hippocampus · doi:10.1002/hipo.20937 · Cited by 485 · see citing works
Lost in thoughts: Neural markers of low alertness during mind wandering
Braboszcz, C., & Delorme, A. (2011) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.10.008 · Cited by 425 · see citing works
Estimating workload using EEG spectral power and ERPs in the n-back task
Brouwer, A.-M., Hogervorst, M. A., van Erp, J. B. F., Heffelaar, T., Zimmerman, P. H., & Oostenveld, R. (2012) · Journal of Neural Engineering · doi:10.1088/1741-2560/9/4/045008 · Cited by 407 · see citing works
Frontal theta EEG activity correlates negatively with the default mode network in resting state
Scheeringa, R., Bastiaansen, M. C. M., Petersson, K. M., Oostenveld, R., Norris, D. G., & Hagoort, P. (2008) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2007.05.017 · Cited by 400 · see citing works
Uhlhaas, P. J., Roux, F., Singer, W., Haenschel, C., Sireteanu, R., & Rodriguez, E. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0900390106 · Cited by 356 · see citing works
Episodic sequence memory is supported by a theta-gamma phase code
Heusser, A. C., Poeppel, D., Ezzyat, Y., & Davachi, L. (2016) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.4374 · Cited by 290 · see citing works
Hogervorst, M. A., Brouwer, A.-M., & van Erp, J. B. F. (2014) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2014.00322 · Cited by 292 · see citing works
<scp>EEG</scp> power spectral measures of cognitive workload: A meta‐analysis
Chikhi, S., Matton, N., & Blanchet, S. (2022) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/psyp.14009 · Cited by 258 · see citing works
Anderson, K. L., Rajagovindan, R., Ghacibeh, G. A., Meador, K. J., & Ding, M. (2010) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhp223 · Cited by 222 · see citing works
Gao, T., Zhang, T., Zhu, L., Gao, Y., & Qiu, L. (2019) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph16173102 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
Theta activity and meditative states: spectral changes during concentrative meditation
Baijal, S., & Srinivasan, N. (2010) · Cognitive Processing · doi:10.1007/s10339-009-0272-0 · Cited by 187 · see citing works
Bailey, N. W., Hoy, K. E., Rogasch, N. C., Thomson, R. H., McQueen, S., Elliot, D., Sullivan, C. M., Fulcher, B. D., Daskalakis, Z. J., & Fitzgerald, P. B. (2018) · Brain Stimulation · doi:10.1016/j.brs.2017.10.015 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Lenartowicz, A., Delorme, A., Walshaw, P. D., Cho, A. L., Bilder, R. M., McGough, J. J., McCracken, J. T., Makeig, S., & Loo, S. K. (2014) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1765-13.2014 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Theta oscillations reflect the dynamics of interference in episodic memory retrieval
Staudigl, T., Hanslmayr, S., & Bäuml, K.-H. T. (2010) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0637-10.2010 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
The Human Neural Alpha Response to Speech is a Proxy of Attentional Control
Wöstmann, M., Lim, S.-J., & Obleser, J. (2017) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhx074 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Genetic contributions to long-range temporal correlations in ongoing oscillations
Linkenkaer-Hansen, K., Smit, D. J. A., Barkil, A., van Beijsterveldt, T. E. M., Brussaard, A. B., Boomsma, D. I., van Ooyen, A., & de Geus, E. J. C. (2007) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3083-07.2007 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Oscillatory EEG correlates of episodic trace decay
Klimesch, W., Hanslmayr, S., Sauseng, P., Gruber, W., Brozinsky, C. J., Kroll, N. E. A., Yonelinas, A. P., & Doppelmayr, M. (2006) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhi107 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
An in vivo assay of synaptic function mediating human cognition
Moran, R. J., Symmonds, M., Stephan, K. E., Friston, K. J., & Dolan, R. J. (2011) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.06.053 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Theta oscillations predict the detrimental effects of memory retrieval
Hanslmayr, S., Staudigl, T., Aslan, A., & Bäuml, K.-H. (2010) · Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/cabn.10.3.329 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Park, S.-K., Jung, I.-C., Lee, W. K., Lee, Y. S., Park, H. K., Go, H. J., Kim, K., Lim, N. K., Hong, J. T., Ly, S. Y., et al. (2011) · Journal of Medicinal Food · doi:10.1089/jmf.2009.1374 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Brain oscillations, hypnosis, and hypnotizability
Jensen, M. P., Adachi, T., & Hakimian, S. (2015) · American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis · doi:10.1080/00029157.2014.976786 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Mangaroska, K., Sharma, K., Gašević, D., & Giannakos, M. (2022) · Journal of Computer Assisted Learning · doi:10.1111/jcal.12590 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Peak frequency in the theta and alpha bands correlates with human working memory capacity
Moran, R. J., Campo, P., Maestu, F., Reilly, R. B., Dolan, R. J., & Strange, B. A. (2010) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2010.00200 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Short-term memory capacity (7+/−2) predicted by theta to gamma cycle length ratio
Kamiński, J., Brzezicka, A., & Wróbel, A. (2011) · Neurobiology of Learning and Memory · doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2010.10.001 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Cannon, R., Congedo, M., Lubar, J., & Hutchens, T. (2009) · International Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/00207450802480325 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
In AI We Trust: Investigating the Relationship between Biosignals, Trust and Cognitive Load in VR
Gupta, K., Hajika, R., Pai, Y. S., Duenser, A., Lochner, M., & Billinghurst, M. (2019) · 25th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology · doi:10.1145/3359996.3364276 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Bohle, H., Rimpel, J., Schauenburg, G., Gebel, A., Stelzel, C., Heinzel, S., Rapp, M., & Granacher, U. (2019) · Neural Plasticity · doi:10.1155/2019/9478656 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Rac-Lubashevsky, R., & Kessler, Y. (2018) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_01326 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
EEG oscillations during sleep and dream recall: state- or trait-like individual differences?
Scarpelli, S., D’Atri, A., Gorgoni, M., Ferrara, M., & Gennaro, L. D. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00605 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Konecky, R. O., Smith, M. A., & Olson, C. R. (2017) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.00541.2016 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Luo, Q., Cheng, X., Holroyd, T., Xu, D., Carver, F., & Blair, R. J. (2014) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00940 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Holczer, A., Németh, V. L., Vékony, T., Kocsis, K., Király, A., Kincses, Z. T., Vécsei, L., Klivényi, P., & Must, A. (2021) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2021.03.001 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Jiang, Y., Guo, Z., Zhou, X., Jiang, N., & He, J. (2025) · Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation · doi:10.1186/s12984-025-01594-z · Cited by 7 · see citing works
- Authors
- Jensen, O., & Tesche, C. D.
- Affiliations
- University of New Mexico (US)
- Corresponding author
- Jensen, Ole
- Venue
- European Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2002-04
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1395-1399
- ISSN
- 0953-816X (ISSN-L)
- 1460-9568
- OpenAlex
- W2118114225
- Cited by
- 1,379
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 57 · 2025: 85 · 2024: 71 · 2023: 70 · 2022: 84 · 2021: 93 · 2020: 86 · 2019: 93 · 2018: 82 · 2017: 73 · 2016: 54 · 2015: 69 · 2014: 71 · 2013: 55 · 2012: 50
- FWCI
- 10.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- European Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Sundhed og Sygdom, Det Frie Forskningsråd
- National Institutes of Health (5r01ns034533-03)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS-34533)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- frontal theta oscillations, working memory, memory load, memory maintenance, Sternberg task, neuromagnetic responses, memory scanning, retention interval, neural oscillations
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Biological Clocks, Brain Mapping, Evoked Potentials, Female, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Theta Rhythm, Magnetoencephalography
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
