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Updated: Jan 19, 2026
Measuring Event-related Potentials Using EEG in Oddball Task
Published on: April 30, 2023
Working memory updating training modulates a cascade of event-related potentials depending on task load
Juha Salmi1, Adrià Vilà-Balló2, Anna Soveri3
1Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, Rakentajanaukio 3, Espoo, Finland; Department of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland; Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Working memory (WM) training improves performance on trained tasks by altering early and late brain responses. Training enhances stimulus maintenance under high cognitive load and processing efficiency under low load.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- The neural underpinnings of working memory (WM) training are not fully understood.
- Event-related potentials (ERPs) offer insights into the temporal dynamics of cognitive processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how WM updating training impacts event-related potentials (ERPs) across different processing stages.
- To test the hypothesis that WM training decreases early ERPs (stimulus selection, response preparation) and increases late slow waves (maintenance).
Main Methods:
- Healthy adults were assigned to either a WM updating group (adaptive dual n-back task) or an active control group (computer game).
- Training involved five weeks of three 25-min sessions per week.
- Pretest-posttest ERPs were analyzed to compare changes between groups.
Main Results:
- The WM updating group showed significant performance improvements, but only on the trained task.
- The P2-N2-P3 complex exhibited changes, with a decreased load-effect in the training group and an opposite pattern in controls.
- Late slow waves during maintenance decreased with easy tasks and increased with difficult tasks in the training group.
Conclusions:
- WM updating training differentially affects early and late ERPs.
- High cognitive load training may enhance the capacity for active stimulus maintenance.
- Low cognitive load training might improve processing efficiency and automatization.
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