Schedule of Events | Symposia

Hierarchically structured neural variability balances sensory reliability with behavioral flexibility in the human brain

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Jonas Terlau¹ (jonas.terlau@gmx.de), Jan Martini^1,2, Randolph Helfrich¹; ¹Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University Medical Center Tuebingen, ²International Max Planck Research School for the Mechanisms of Mental Function and Dysfunction, University of Tuebingen

Human behavior is remarkably complex, balancing the seemingly opposing traits of reliability and flexibility. In contrast to the ensuing behavior, the underlying neural population activity is inherently time-varying; thus, raising the question how ever-changing neural activity can support both, stable and adaptive behaviors. Using large-scale human intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) recordings that cover the cortical hierarchy from sensory to association areas, we tested the hypothesis that neural variability shapes perceptual and cognitive performance in a context- and demand-dependent manner. Our results uncover that neural variability does not reflect random noise, but supports the spatiotemporal unfolding from perceptual to cognitive processing that underlies successful encoding and maintenance of sensory information. Neural variability decreases in sensory areas improve the fidelity of sensory representations, while increased variability in association cortex supports memory maintenance. In sum, these results demonstrate that neural variability captures the duality underlying the complexity of human behavior – it can be consistent during sensory processing, yet adaptable when needed.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Working memory