Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience最新文献

{"title":"Negative Emotional States Impair the Active Suppression of Irrelevant Information during the Encoding Phase of Visual Working Memory.","authors":"Kejing Wu, Ranran Yan, Xiaoting Luo, Guili He, Qiang Liu","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.2614","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/JOCN.a.2614","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Efficient functioning of visual working memory (VWM) relies on the ability to filter out irrelevant information. Recent studies suggest that negative emotional states impair this filtering process; however, the underlying mechanisms-specifically whether this impairment stems from deficits in target selection or distractor suppression-remain insufficiently understood. The present study employed ERPs in combination with a lateralized change detection task to systematically examine how negative emotional state affects information filtering in VWM and its neural underpinnings. Behavioral results confirmed that negative emotional states marginally significantly reduced VWM accuracy. ERP analyses further revealed that whereas target processing (target-elicited N2pc and contralateral delay activity) remained intact across conditions, distractor processing was significantly altered by negative emotional states. Specifically, under negative emotional states, irrelevant information elicited a more negative N2pc and a less positive distractor positivity amplitude, indicating that irrelevant information exerted stronger attentional capture and weaker active suppression during the encoding stage. During the maintenance stage, the contralateral delay activity component was observed, suggesting that irrelevant information entered and occupied memory resources. Correlation analyses further demonstrated that stronger subjective negative affect was associated with weaker neural inhibition (distractor positivity), which predicted the extent of distractor storage. In summary, this study indicates that negative emotional state impairs the ability to filter distractors from working memory primarily by disrupting the active suppression of irrelevant information during the encoding stage, rather than by hindering target selection. This failure in inhibitory control allows distractors to intrude into the limited capacity of VWM, thereby degrading overall performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147845805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early Simultaneous Brain Indexes of Phonological, Semantic, and Pragmatic Information Access in Language Understanding and Production.","authors":"Luigi Grisoni, Laura A Ciaccio, Milena Osterloh, Kristof Strijkers, Friedemann Pulvermüller","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.2612","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/JOCN.a.2612","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It remains debated whether language comprehension and production rely on shared or modality-specific mechanisms, and whether phonological, semantic, and pragmatic information is accessed sequentially (with opposite orders across modalities) or in parallel. EEG was recorded in healthy native German speakers in a fully crossed design, contrasting comprehension (written words) with production (picture naming) and varying pragmatic function (naming vs. requesting), semantic category (tools vs. animals), and word-initial phonology (place of articulation: labial vs. coronal). ERPs showed an ultra-early main effect of modality at ∼100 msec with no interaction with the three linguistic factors, consistent with perceptual differences between written words and pictures. More importantly, between 100 and 200 msec, ERPs showed a three-way interaction of the factors pragmatics, semantics, and phonology without modality involvement, indicating early modality-independent linguistic processing. In 100- to 200-msec source estimates, no significant PoA-specific clusters were observed, likely due to limited spatial resolution for focal articulatory contrasts. By contrast, pragmatics and semantics showed significant effects: Activity was greater in prefrontal-motor regions for requesting versus naming and for tools versus animals, whereas posterior visual regions showed greater activity for naming versus requesting and for animals versus tools, supporting an early neural signature of pragmatic and semantic processing that was statistically indistinguishable between the two modalities. Modality first entered the effects only at ∼400 msec, possibly reflecting earlier decay in comprehension versus sustained activation for utterance generation in production. Overall, results support parallel, modality-general processing underlying both language comprehension and production.</p>","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147845799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Multiplexed Neural Code Governs Dynamic Perception-Action Reconfiguration during Response Inhibition.","authors":"Marida Zhupa, Moritz Mückschel, Christian Frings, Astrid Prochnow, Christian Beste","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.2613","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/JOCN.a.2613","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The inhibition of actions is central for adaptive behavior, and recent concepts on the electrophysiological underpinning of perception-action integration suggest that an interplay of different frequency bands is likely central for the management of perceptual-motor codes during response inhibition. Yet, the question of how this interplay is organized is contentious. Here, we demonstrate that reconfiguration of perceptual-motor codes during response inhibition relies crucially on the temporal coordination between frequency bands via phase-amplitude coupling (PAC). Specifically, alpha-beta and beta-gamma PAC were modulated, suggesting that PAC plays a central role in orchestrating access and updating stored perceptual-motor associations. This embeds perception-action integration into a temporally structured, multiplexed neural framework, where the phase of slower rhythms (e.g., alpha) gates access to, and updating of, representations encoded in faster rhythms (e.g., beta and gamma). The results suggest hierarchical coordination of neural activity by distinct cross-frequency mechanisms governing the dynamic handling of perceptual-motor associations.</p>","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147845728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dissociating the Neural Representation of Scene Boundary and Extended Surfaces in Human Visual Scene Processing.","authors":"Annie Cheng, Ga In Shin, Katrina Ferrara, Sang Ah Lee, Soojin Park","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.2611","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/JOCN.a.2611","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humans often rely on environmental boundaries for place recognition and navigation. However, what defines an effective boundary for human cortical scene processing remains unclear. Despite the prominent use of extended surfaces (e.g., walls) as environmental boundaries in the literature, some evidence suggests that effective boundaries may instead be qualified by their ability to mark the 3D shape of a local environment. In this study, we directly test this possibility using tightly controlled, artificial images of boundaries that define the same 3D shape of a local environment, systematically manipulating the number of poles to vary the internal structure of these boundaries. We hypothesize that if the human cortical scene-processing system encodes boundaries based on the geometric shape marked by boundary elements rather than surface continuity, it will represent geometrically equivalent boundaries similarly, regardless of whether a boundary is made up of wall surfaces or a varying number of poles. Using fMRI, we found that even a few isolated poles marking the vertices of a local 3D space were sufficient to elicit a wall-like representation in the parahippocampal place area, revealing its sensitivity to environmental shape composed of non-wall boundaries. The occipital place area was sensitive to graded variations in boundary structure, tracking continuous surface-like properties. Together, these results reveal neural sensitivity to non-wall boundaries in the human scene-selective cortical system and shed light on the distinct boundary features that support the encoding of environmental geometry across different cortical regions.</p>","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147845658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatial Grouping Modulates the Link between Individual Alpha Frequency and Temporal Integration Windows in Crowding.","authors":"Alessia Santoni, Luca Ronconi, Jason Samaha","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.2609","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/JOCN.a.2609","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Previous research has linked endogenous alpha oscillations (∼7-13 Hz) to temporal integration windows in visual perception, with higher individual alpha frequency predicting improved temporal segregation. Here, we investigated whether alpha-rhythmic temporal integration is a factor in visual crowding and whether this relationship is mediated by spatial grouping mechanisms. Forty-seven participants performed a Vernier discrimination task, in which we manipulated both the stimulus onset asynchrony between flankers and targets, and the spatial configuration of the flankers. Specifically, flankers were arranged to induce either crowding or \"uncrowding,\" through the manipulation of good-Gestalt properties. Our results show that crowding has a temporal integration period of around 170 msec, but this varies substantially across individuals. Importantly, resting-state individual alpha frequency predicted individual variance in temporal integration windows: Individuals with faster endogenous alpha rhythms could begin to segregate targets from distractors at shorter SOAs. Crucially, this effect was specific for crowding-inducing flankers and disappeared when flankers led to uncrowding. These results suggest that top-down spatial grouping can overwrite the temporal integration constraint imposed by alpha oscillations, highlighting both the relevance of alpha for understanding limits on peripheral visual processing and the flexible and context-dependent role of alpha in temporal integration.</p>","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147788289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Disentangling Uncertainty Signals in Neural Reward Dynamics.","authors":"Jianbiao Zhao, Leyou Deng, Ya Zheng","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.2610","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/JOCN.a.2610","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Most decisions are made under uncertainty, which manifests in either risk (know probability) or ambiguity (unknown probability). However, it is not well understood how the two forms of uncertainty signal differ in value-based decision-making. This ERP study aimed to disentangle them by examining how their neural reward dynamics are influenced by individual attitudes and their derived subjective value (SV). Thirty-six participants performed a wheel-of-fortune task while EEG activity was recorded, followed by a lottery task where their attitudes toward risk and ambiguity were assessed. These attitudes were then used to calculate the trial-level SV for gambling wheels in the wheel-of-fortune task. Results showed that risk was associated with a greater cue-P3, whereas ambiguity was linked to a greater cue-N2 and stronger valence effects on the both reward positivity and feedback-P3. Importantly, SV was represented by all ERP components under risk but not under ambiguity. Finally, less risk-averse attitudes were associated with reduced valence and probability effects on the feedback-P3, whereas less ambiguity-averse attitudes were linked to greater ambiguity-level effect on the cue-P3. Our findings reveal a dissociable relationship between risk and ambiguity, supporting the crucial role of individual attitudes and SV in disentangling them in uncertainty neural signals.</p>","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147788286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Endogenous Theta as a Function of Task Load and Working Memory Capacity: Revisiting the Role of Slower Frequencies in Theta-Gamma Coupling.","authors":"Miriam Tortajada, Julio Rodríguez-Larios, Victor Martínez-Pérez, Lucia B Palmero, Luis J Fuentes, Guillermo Campoy","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.2594","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/JOCN.a.2594","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recent findings have shown the influential role of theta-gamma cross-frequency coupling in the maintenance of items in working memory (WM). Specifically, it has been proposed that individual items are represented within gamma oscillations that are nested within slower theta waves. Thus, longer theta cycles would theoretically allow the retention of more items. On the basis of this theory, the present preregistered study aimed to test whether slowing theta rhythms via 4 Hz of transcranial alternating current stimulation over the frontoparietal network improves WM capacity. Given the potential role of individual differences in stimulation effects, participants were divided into high and low WM capacity groups based on initial screening. In addition, task difficult was also manipulated to maximize the likelihood of obtaining an improvement in performance. Contrary to our hypothesis, transcranial alternating current stimulation did not improve behavioral outcomes regardless of task difficulty or baseline WM capacity. Poststimulation EEG effects were also analyzed, but no modulation of theta power, peaks, or phase synchronization was found. Importantly, differences in mean theta frequency were observed before any stimulation between high- and low-capacity WM participants, with higher frequencies present in participants with better WM performance. Furthermore, higher mean frequency was also observed in high-load trials versus low-load trials. These findings contradict the predictions of the theta-gamma coupling theory. Taken together, these results raise questions about the validity of the theta-gamma coupling theory to explain cortical dynamics related to WM.</p>","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-17"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147647408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Context Matters: Hyperscanning the N400 Lexical Frequency Effect during Scripted Conversation and Passive Listening.","authors":"Caitriona L Douglas, Antoine Tremblay, Aaron J Newman","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.2595","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/JOCN.a.2595","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>ERP studies of lexical processing typically involve individuals perceiving isolated words or sentences. However, much of language processing occurs in conversation with others. Here, we used EEG hyperscanning while pairs of acquaintances either engaged in a scripted conversation or passively viewed a recording of the scripted conversation. Our primary goals were to replicate the established N400 frequency effect (a greater negativity between ∼300 and 600 msec for low-frequency words) and compare this effect during scripted conversation to passive viewing, which more closely resembled conventional paradigms. Target words of high and low lexical frequency were embedded in the dialogues, and the onsets of these words were identified post hoc from audio synchronized with the EEG data. Both groups exhibited a significantly greater N400 response when hearing low-frequency words compared with high-frequency words, replicating previous findings. However, the N400 frequency effect was significantly larger in the control group than in the scripted conversation group across midline central-parietal channels. This attenuation in the scripted conversation condition may reflect differences in lexical processing in the context of active social interaction compared with passive comprehension. Specifically, the rapport created by engaging in a conversation with another person may facilitate lexical access and reduce the greater processing associated with low-frequency words. These findings demonstrate that ERP experiments can be conducted using conversational stimuli, opening new opportunities to study real-time language processing in interactive social contexts.</p>","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147647294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hippocampal Reactivation Trades Episodic Detail for Semantic Gist in Human Memory.","authors":"Nicholas C Hindy, Ryan Coleman, Surya Rajan Meenakshi Selvam","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.2592","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/JOCN.a.2592","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Memory must balance preserving episode-specific details with extracting generalizable structure. Here, we test whether spontaneous hippocampal reactivation during postencoding rest actively transforms memories by strengthening semantic gist at the expense of episodic detail. Twenty-four participants encoded Deese-Roediger-McDermott word lists presented in male or female voices, creating orthogonal semantic (list theme) and episodic (voice source) information. Using high-resolution fMRI, we tracked list-specific reactivation in hippocampal subfields during a 90-sec delay period. Most consistently in CA1, reactivation frequency showed opposing relationships with subsequent memory: Greater reactivation predicted increased false recognition of semantic lures (gist extraction; dz = 0.52) and decreased accuracy for voice discrimination (source memory; dz = -0.65), yielding a large, bidirectional effect within CA1 (gist minus source, paired dz = 1.00). This bidirectional pattern was most prominent in anterior-to-mid hippocampus, consistent with its role in schematic processing. These findings reveal that hippocampal reactivation implements a computational trade-off, actively constructing abstract and generalizable representations while competitively weakening episode-specific details. This mechanism could explain how the brain rapidly extracts meaning from experience, with false memories emerging as a natural consequence of adaptive memory transformation rather than retrieval failure.</p>","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147647424","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Distinct Patterns of Directed Brain Connectivity in Focused Attention, Open Monitoring, and Loving Kindness Meditation: An Electroencephalographic Granger Causality Study with Long-term Meditators.","authors":"Vasil Kolev, Kosio Beshkov, Peter Malinowski, Antonino Raffone, Juliana Yordanova","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.2593","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1162/JOCN.a.2593","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The present study applied spectral Granger causality (GC) analysis to electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings obtained during focused attention meditation (FAM), open monitoring meditation (OMM), and loving kindness meditation (LKM) in highly experienced meditators. The aim of the investigation was to characterize distinct connectivity signatures associated with each meditation style by examining the strength, frequency, and direction of interregional interactions. These differences were expected to specify the neural connectivity profiles of the cognitive and affective state of each meditative practice. Multivariate GC was computed from high-resolution EEG signals recorded from long-term meditators (n = 22) in four conditions: rest, FAM, OMM, and LKM. GC was analyzed in the frequency domain for key electrode clusters (anterior and posterior) in the two hemispheres to compare frequency-specific directed connectivity between rest and each meditation type. Main results demonstrated that each meditation state produced highly specific alterations in directed influences relative to rest. In FAM, there was significant reduction in posterior-to-anterior GC in the alpha and beta bands as well as decreased multispectral interhemispheric frontal GC implying attenuated bottom-up sensory and associative inputs. In OMM, multispectral GC was significantly increased from the left hemisphere to the right posterior cluster implying expanded awareness in the right posterior regions through enhanced top-down modulation by the left hemisphere. The distinctive features of LKM profile were the interhemispheric symmetry, the posterior-anterior bidirectionality, and the specific beta-band engagement, implying a coactivation of systems that support an emotionally balanced stance, equanimity, and prosocial attitude. These novel findings demonstrate that the direction and frequency specificity of information flows provide complementary insights into neural processes underlying distinct meditative states.</p>","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147647437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}