Steven Woltering

Background/Objectives: The oscillatory dynamics underlying stage-specific processing in working memory (WM) remain incompletely characterized, particularly under varying memory loads. We examined the load-dependent modulation of theta (4–7 Hz), lower alpha (8–10 Hz), and upper alpha (11–13 Hz) absolute power during encoding, maintenance, and retrieval using quantitative EEG in a modified Sternberg task that temporally dissociates these stages. Methods: Forty-five healthy young adults performed trials with memory sets of three, five, or six uppercase consonants, followed by a lowercase probe. EEG data were analyzed using cluster-based permutation testing, and brain–behavior relationships were assessed using regression models. Results: Fronto-central theta power increased with memory load and was significantly higher during retrieval than during encoding or maintenance. Greater theta power during retrieval predicted faster reaction times in the three-letter condition. Alpha oscillations showed robust stage effects. Lower alpha power was higher during maintenance than retrieval across loads and exhibited a load effect during maintenance (three > six letters) in occipital regions. Upper alpha power was consistently maximal during maintenance across all loads, involving bilateral fronto-central, parietal, and occipital regions. Critically, under moderate load (five letters), higher upper alpha power predicted a greater probability of correct responses across task stages. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate a functional dissociation between oscillatory bands across temporally separated WM stages: theta activity was retrieval-dominant and associated with response speed, whereas alpha, particularly upper alpha, was maintenance-dominant and supported accuracy under increased mnemonic demand.

Background/Objectives: The oscillatory dynamics underlying stage-specific processing in working memory (WM) remain incompletely characterized, particularly under varying memory loads. We examined load-dependent modulation of theta (4-7 Hz), lower alpha (8-10 Hz), and upper alpha (11-13 Hz) absolute power during encoding, maintenance, and retrieval using quantitative EEG in a modified Sternberg task that temporally dissociates these stages. Methods: Forty-five healthy young adults performed trials with memory sets of three, five, or six uppercase consonants followed by a lowercase probe. EEG data were analyzed using cluster-based permutation testing, and brain-behavior relationships were assessed using regression models. Results: Fronto-central theta power increased with memory load and was significantly higher during retrieval than during encoding or maintenance. Greater theta power during retrieval predicted faster reaction times in the three-letter condition. Alpha oscillations showed robust stage effects. Lower alpha power was higher during maintenance than retrieval across loads and exhibited a load effect during maintenance (three > six letters) in occipital regions. Upper alpha power was consistently maximal during maintenance across all loads, involving bilateral fronto-central, parietal, and occipital regions. Critically, under moderate load (five letters), higher upper alpha power predicted a greater probability of correct responses across task stages. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate a functional dissociation between oscillatory bands across temporally separated WM stages: theta activity was retrieval-dominant and associated with response speed, whereas alpha, particularly upper alpha, was maintenance-dominant and supported accuracy under increased mnemonic demand.

The unique role of executive functioning in reading comprehension is well documented (Butterfuss & Kendeou, 2018; Cutting & Scarborough, 2012; Follmer, 2018; Liu et al., 2018). Executive functionin...

The present study examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) and reading-language skills of elementary school children with and without reading difficulties. Typically developing children showed an N400 effect characterized by significantly larger N400 amplitudes elicited by nonwords than real words. Their meaning processing shown by the N400 systematically differed by lexicality. On the other hand, the N400 effect was absent in children with reading difficultiesExploratory analyses were conducted with the N1 and Late Positive Component. Additionally, the relationships between ERPs and reading-language skills were examined; sight word efficiency and phonemic decoding efficiency accounted for significant variance in the N400 effect

To better understand working memory (WM) deficits in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), we examined information precision and associative binding in WM in 21 participants with MCI, compared to 16 healthy controls, using an item-location delayed reproduction task. WM, along with other executive functions (i.e. Trail Making Task (TMT) and Stroop task), were measured before and after a 2-h nap. The napping manipulation was intended as an exploratory element to this study exploring potential impacts of napping on executive functions. Compared to healthy participants, participants with MCI exhibited inferior performance not only in identifying encoded WM items but also on item-location associative binding and location precision even when only one item was involved. We also found changes on TMT and Stroop tasks in MCI, reflecting inferior attention and inhibitory control. Post-napping performance improved in most of these WM and other executive measures, both in MCI and their healthy peers. Our study shows that associative binding and WM precision can reliably differentiate MCIs from their healthy peers. Additionally, most measures showed no differential effect of group pre- and post-napping. These findings may contribute to better understanding cognitive deficits in MCI therefore improving the diagnosis of MCI.

Internet-related disorders are on the rise and increasing cell phone social media use may be one of the reasons for these disorders. To better understand internet-related disorders, we aim to explore the psychological and social aspects of cell phone social media behaviors. We hypothesized that, according to humanistic theories of positive functioning, cell phone social media connectedness to self (engagement, interest, pleasure, sense of enjoyment, meaningfulness, purposefulness, optimism, acceptance, and feeling accomplished) would relate positively to psychological well-being of undergraduate students. We also hypothesized that, according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, cell phone social media connectedness to others (affiliation, feeling rewarded, being liked by others, and contributions to the well-being of others) would relate positively to the psychological well-being of undergraduate students. During the fall of 2019, 523 (75.4% female) undergraduate students from a large public university participated in this study by completing validated quantitative surveys on their cell phone use and psychological well-being. Spearman’s rho and ordinal logistics were implemented to analyze the findings. Correlational data showed that cell phone social media connectedness to self and cell phone social media connectedness to others were positively associated with the psychological well-being of undergraduate students. Ordinal logistics showed higher odds of psychological well-being occurring with cell phone social media connectedness to self and cell phone social media connectedness to others. Cell phone social media connectedness to self significantly predicted psychological well-being with the medium effect, whereas cell phone social media connectedness to others was not a significant predictor of the psychological well-being of undergraduate students. An increase in cell phone social media connectedness to self and an increase in cell phone social media connectedness to others of undergraduate students helped them improve their psychological well-being. Cell phone social media connectedness to self significantly predicted but cell phone social media connectedness to others did not predict the psychological well-being of undergraduate students, which may have implications for the research pertaining to behavioral addiction and may help better understand internet-related disorders.