Alpha/beta oscillatory power modulates ongoing task performance during strategic monitoring in prospective...

Prospective memory (PM), enabling execution of future intentions, underpins goal-directed behavior, such as medication compliance and remembering appointments, making it crucial to independent living. Its deterioration in neurocognitive disorders, including dementia and traumatic brain injury, renders it among the most common memory failure complaints. We investigated the impact of oscillatory power modulation during strategic monitoring on performance in an ongoing task to shed light on the neurocognitive mechanisms that underpin PM. Forty-four healthy adults performed a 2-back working memory (WM) task using colored letters, either with (with-PM) or without a PM component (no-PM), during EEG recording. The with-PM group responded to a particular color, assigned as the PM cue. Oscillatory spectral power in WM trials was contrasted between groups using cluster-based permutation testing, and partial least squares were calculated between power and WM performance measures. The with-PM group had lower accuracy and slower reaction times in the WM task. The performance costs align with strategic monitoring effects. Central-parietal alpha/beta oscillatory power was greater in the with-PM group. Early alpha/beta-band power was associated with slower responses in the no-PM condition, whereas oscillatory power was linked to improved accuracy/reaction times in the with-PM condition. Early alpha/beta power in the with-PM task fits with active PM maintenance during strategic monitoring. Alpha-/beta-band activity showed a context-dependent role, relating to reduced cognitive flexibility during WM alone but supporting goal maintenance under prospective monitoring. The findings shed new light on the neural mechanisms underpinning memory and attentional control.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Strategic monitoring impaired ongoing task performance and increased central-parietal alpha/beta power. Alpha- and beta-band activity showed a context-dependent role. In the no-PM condition, greater oscillatory power-particularly late alpha-was associated with slower responses, indicating reduced cognitive flexibility, whereas in the with-PM condition, increased alpha/beta power was linked to higher accuracy and faster responses, supporting goal maintenance during prospective monitoring.