Schedule of Events | Symposia

Characterizing Cortical Traveling Waves in Human Attention and Memory

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom
Also presenting in Data Blitz Session 2 - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm EDT, Independence Ballroom.

Rahil Verma¹ (rahil.verma@duke.edu), Uma Mohan², Kelsey Sundby², Kareem Zaghloul²; ¹Duke University, ²National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health

Macro-scale cortical traveling waves have emerged as a mechanism for coordinating neuronal activity across the brain, with synchronized alpha oscillations playing a key role in routing information between regions. However, their role in specific cognitive processes such as attention and memory remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of cortical traveling waves during a cued attention task using recordings from intracranial electrodes implanted in participants for seizure monitoring. A circular linear model was fit to isolated oscillations, identifying traveling waves through spatially organized phase relationships. Analyzing data from 71 patients, we identified alpha-frequency (8-12 Hz) traveling waves propagating from the frontal lobe, part of an established attention network, to the anterior temporal lobe (ATL), a region critical for semantic memory. We found that wave prevalence increased in both the frontal lobe and ATL immediately preceding word presentation in cued attention trials, with waves showing increased duration during these periods. Our findings suggest that traveling waves may serve as a mechanism for top-down control, where the frontal lobe primes the ATL for semantic processing during attention-enhanced memorization. This work provides evidence for how traveling waves facilitate communication between brain areas during cognitive tasks and advances our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying attention and memory processes.

Topic Area: ATTENTION: Nonspatial