Pre-stimulus activity mediates event-related theta synchronization and alpha desynchronization during memory formation in healthy aging

Description

Dawid Strzelczyk and Nicolas Langer studied the brain activity that comes just before a stimulus, and how it shapes learning in young and older adults, in a 2024 paper. Over two hundred volunteers learned a fixed sequence of visual locations by watching it repeat thousands of times. Brain waves were recorded throughout. Earlier work had focused on responses during learning: a frontal theta rhythm that syncs up, and a rear alpha rhythm that drops.

Younger adults learned faster, as expected. As learning took hold, the frontal sync weakened and the rear drop grew, but both shifts were smaller in older adults. Statistical mediation showed the pre-stimulus state carried much of the effect: frontal theta before each item partly explained the frontal response, and pre-stimulus alpha drove the rear change. The authors say what the brain does in the quiet moment before matters for memory.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12315746