Whether and how the capacity to inhibit cognitive and motor processes can be trained and the underlying neuroplastic mechanisms remain unclear. Using electrical neuroimaging methods, we investigated how inhibitory control training regimens can be designed to enhance frontal top-down inhibition processes. We trained participants with a Go/NoGo task in which the stimulusresponse mapping rules were systematically varied. This task parameter has indeed be hypothesized to determine the extent to which top-down frontal inhibition processes are involved and thus ultimately reinforced during the training. The effects of training on inhibitory control were assessed by analyzing the event-related potentials (ERPs) measured during the Go/NoGo task with a data-driven time-and electrode-wise 2 9 2 ANOVA with factors Session (beginning; end of the training) and Stimuli (Go; NoGo). To localize the sources of the ERP effects in the brain, the same statistical design was applied to distributed electrical source estimations averaged over the periods of ERP modulations. The training improved inhibitory control performance. Electrophysiologically, we found a significant Session 9 Stimulus interaction at 300-400 ms poststimulus onset over centro-occipital electrodes. Statistical parametric mapping on the brain source estimations revealed an interaction within right inferior frontal cortices driven by a decrease in response strength to NoGo but not to Go trials in this region. Our collective results demonstrate that frontal top-down inhibition processes can be enhanced with specifically designed inhibitory control training regimens.

Alpha-band activity (8–13 Hz) is not only suppressed by sensory stimulation and movements, but also modulated by attention, working memory and mental tasks, and could be sensitive to higher motor control functions. The aim of the present study was to examine alpha oscillatory activity during the preparation of simple left or right finger movements, contrasting the external and internal mode of action selection. Three preparation conditions were examined using a precueing paradigm with S1 as the preparatory and S2 as the imperative cue: Full, laterality instructed by S1; Free, laterality freely selected and None, laterality instructed by S2. Time-frequency (TF) analysis was performed in the alpha frequency range during the S1–S2 interval, and alpha motor-related amplitude asymmetries (MRAA) were also calculated. The significant MRAA during the Full and Free conditions indicated effective external and internal motor response preparation. In the absence of specific motor preparation (None), a posterior alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD) dominated, reflecting the main engagement of attentional resources. In Full and Free motor preparation, posterior alpha ERD was accompanied by a midparietal alpha event-related synchronization (ERS), suggesting a concomitant inhibition of task-irrelevant visual activity. In both Full and Free motor preparation, analysis of alpha power according to MRAA amplitude revealed two types of functional activation patterns: (1) a motor alpha pattern, with predominantly midparietal alpha ERS and large MRAA corresponding to lateralized motor activation/visual inhibition and (2) an attentional alpha pattern, with dominating right posterior alpha ERD and small MRAA reflecting visuospatial attention. The present results suggest that alpha oscillatory patterns do not resolve the selection mode of action, but rather distinguish separate functional strategies of motor preparation.

Working memory is our ability to select and temporarily hold information as needed for complex cognitive operations. The temporal dynamics of sustained and transient neural activity supporting the selection and holding of memory content is not known. To address this problem, we recorded magnetoencephalography (MEG) in healthy participants performing a retro-cue working memory task in which the selection rule and the memory content varied independently.Multivariate decoding and source analyses showed that selecting the memory content relies on prefrontal and parieto-occipital persistent oscillatory neural activity. By contrast, the memory content was reactivated in a distributed occipito-temporal posterior network, preceding the working memory decision and in a different format that during the visual encoding. These results identify a neural signature of content selection and characterize differentiated spatiotemporal constraints for subprocesses of working memory.

Working memory is our ability to select and temporarily hold information as needed for complex cognitive operations. The temporal dynamics of sustained and transient neural activity supporting the selection and holding of memory content is not known. To address this problem, we recorded magnetoencephalography in healthy participants performing a retro-cue working memory task in which the selection rule and the memory content varied independently. Multivariate decoding and source analyses showed that selecting the memory content relies on prefrontal and parieto-occipital persistent oscillatory neural activity. By contrast, the memory content was reactivated in a distributed occipitotemporal posterior network, preceding the working memory decision and in a different format than during the visual encoding. These results identify a neural signature of content selection and characterize differentiated spatiotemporal constraints for subprocesses of working memory.