The DOI matches its Crossref record; 84 of the 84 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Oscillatory power decreases and long-term memory: the information via desynchronization hypothesis
Open accessAbstract
The traditional belief is that brain oscillations are important for human long-term memory, because they induce synchronized firing between cell assemblies which shapes synaptic plasticity. Therefore, most prior studies focused on the role of synchronization for episodic memory, as reflected in theta (∼5 Hz) and gamma (>40 Hz) power increases. These studies, however, neglect the role that is played by neural desynchronization, which is usually reflected in power decreases in the alpha and beta frequency band (8-30 Hz). In this paper we present a first idea, derived from information theory that gives a mechanistic explanation of how neural desynchronization aids human memory encoding and retrieval. Thereby we will review current studies investigating the role of alpha and beta power decreases during long-term memory tasks and show that alpha and beta power decreases play an important and active role for human memory. Applying mathematical models of information theory, we demonstrate that neural desynchronization is positively related to the richness of information represented in the brain, thereby enabling encoding and retrieval of long-term memories. This information via desynchronization hypothesis makes several predictions, which can be tested in future experiments.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
A Mathematical Theory of Communication
Shannon, C. E. (1948) · Bell System Technical Journal · doi:10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x · Cited by 88,486
A Mathematical Theory of Communication
Shannon, C. E. (1948) · Bell System Technical Journal · doi:10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb00917.x · Cited by 48,949
Two new Later Stone Age sites from the Final Pleistocene in the Falémé Valley, eastern Senegal
Ndiaye, M., Lespez, L., Tribolo, C., Rassé, M., Hadjas, I., Davidoux, S., Huysecom, É., & Douze, K. (2024) · Monash University Research Portal (Monash University) · doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000667478 · Cited by 23,868
The free-energy principle: a unified brain theory?
Friston, K. (2010) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2787 · Cited by 8,120 · cited 1×
“Entropy measures have recently also been applied to construct a global brain model, viewing the brain as a prediction making machine trying to reduce its energy costs by keeping its entropy low (Friston, 2010).”
MethodEEG alpha and theta oscillations reflect cognitive and memory performance: a review and analysis
Klimesch, W. (1999) · Brain Research Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0165-0173(98)00056-3 · Cited by 6,889
Neuronal Oscillations in Cortical Networks
Buzsáki, G., & Draguhn, A. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1099745 · Cited by 6,576
The Organization of Behavior; A Neuropsychological Theory.
Attneave, F., B., M., & Hebb, D. O. (1950) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1418888 · Cited by 5,146
Hämäläinen, M., Hari, R., Ilmoniemi, R. J., Knuutila, J., & Lounasmaa, O. V. (1993) · Reviews of Modern Physics · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.65.413 · Cited by 4,684
Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory.
Tulving, E., & Thomson, D. M. (1973) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0020071 · Cited by 4,540
EEG alpha oscillations: The inhibition–timing hypothesis
Klimesch, W., Sauseng, P., & Hanslmayr, S. (2007) · Brain Research Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.brainresrev.2006.06.003 · Cited by 3,891
Self-citation
Cited by
Neural mechanisms of motivated forgetting
Anderson, M. C., & Hanslmayr, S. (2014) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2014.03.002 · Cited by 533
Self-citationOscillations and Episodic Memory: Addressing the Synchronization/Desynchronization Conundrum
Hanslmayr, S., Staresina, B. P., & Bowman, H. (2016) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/j.tins.2015.11.004 · Cited by 367
Self-citationActive Forgetting: Adaptation of Memory by Prefrontal Control
Anderson, M. C., & Hulbert, J. C. (2021) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-072720-094140 · Cited by 279
Memory failure predicted by attention lapsing and media multitasking
Madore, K. P., Khazenzon, A. M., Backes, C. W., Jiang, J., Uncapher, M. R., Norcia, A. M., & Wagner, A. D. (2020) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2870-z · Cited by 184
Visual Imagery and Perception Share Neural Representations in the Alpha Frequency Band
Xie, S., Kaiser, D., & Cichy, R. M. (2020) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.074 · Cited by 139
Metadata
- Authors
- Hanslmayr, S., Staudigl, T., & Fellner, M.-C.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2012
- Volume
- 6
- Pages
- 74-74
- ISSN
- 1662-5161 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2104141548
- Cited by
- 489
- References
- 84
- FWCI
- 11.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
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
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Oscillatory power decreases and long-term memory: the information via desynchronization hypothesis. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00074
- The paper
- Hanslmayr, S., Staudigl, T., & Fellner, M.-C. (2012). Oscillatory power decreases and long-term memory: the information via desynchronization hypothesis. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00074
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
