20.500.12556/RUL-176066 Modulation of aperiodic EEG activity provides sensitive index of cognitive state changes during working memory task To better understand cognitive processes, it is valuable to consider both periodic (oscillatory) and aperiodic electrophysiological brain activity. The aim of this study was to clarify how the periodic and aperiodic electrophysiological components reflect the cognitive processes involved in working memory. Fifty-seven human participants performed an n-back task while their brain activity was recorded using EEG. The analysis of both components of the EEG spectrum during task performance indicates that both periodic and aperiodic activities exhibit distinct task-related spatiotemporal dynamics that are closely related to cognitive demands. The results suggest that a substantial portion of the changes often attributed to theta oscillations in working memory tasks may be influenced by shifts in the spectral slope of aperiodic activity. This finding indicates that the modulation of aperiodic activity, associated with cognitive control processes, could provide a more sensitive index of cognitive state changes than previously recognised. To further confirm our findings, we also used these analysis methods in an item-recognition task, which showed similar patterns of periodic and aperiodic activity. These observations challenge the conventional understanding of low-frequency oscillations in cognitive processing and raise concerns about the routine practice of EEG baseline correction in time-frequency analysis, as it may obscure significant modulations in continuous working memory tasks. Consequently, the inclusion of aperiodic activity as a fundamental component of EEG analysis is likely to be critical for the accurate representation of the neural basis of cognition. aperiodic activity theta oscillations working memory n-back task electroencephalography neurosciences brain cognitive processes aperiodična aktivnost theta oscilacije delovni spomin naloga n-nazaj elektroencefalografija EEG nevroznanost možgani kognitivni procesi true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2025-11-20 13:28:22 2025-11-20 13:28:28 2025-12-18 03:48:52 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 40 str. art. RP101071 Vol. 13 2025, cop. 2024 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 159.91:612.82 2050-084X 10.7554/eLife.101071.4 257996547 Matkovic_Modulation_of_aperiodic_EEG_activity_provides_sensitive_index_of_cognitive_state_changes_during_working_memory_task.pdf Matkovic_Modulation_of_aperiodic_EEG_activity_provides_sensitive_index_of_cognitive_state_changes_during_working_memory_task.pdf 1 A5C80B5CF8F070846AE2C80429592545 e587951e9a6286e961d676328080b2b990207ac31f3c842538130bbcd3d4f1fa 7917cfa5-c60e-11f0-9328-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=222149 https://elifesciences.org/articles/101071 1 124c5d4b-c60c-11f0-9328-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=222148 Filozofska fakulteta 0 0 0