Our research aims to uncover mechanistic explanations of the neural basis of human behavior, that is, move from where to how. Our goals are multifaceted: (1) advance fundamental science by discovering new knowledge using rigorous, reproducible methods; and (2) advance translational applications in neurotechnology, precision medicine, and product development that are grounded in rigorous science. On each trial of this working memory task paradigm, participants encode three shapes in a specific spatiotemporal sequence in preparation for a self-paced match/mismatch recognition test of sequences that match exactly or mismatch on one dimension. On half of all trials, a star flashes during the delay phases to 'ping' the brain, potentially activating latent representations. It is intended for humans aged 13+ years with healthy cognitive function and normal/corrected-to-normal vision. It was designed for studies using intracranial and scalp EEG.
It is described in:
- Cross, ZR, Gray, SM, Dede, AJO, Rivera, YM, Yin, Q, Vahidi, P, Rau, EMB, Cyr, C, Holubecki, AM, Asano, E, Lin, JJ, Kim McManus, O, Sattar, S, Saez, I, Girgis, F, King-Stephens, D, Weber, PB, Laxer, KD, Schuele, SU, Rosenow, JM, Wu, JY, Lam, SK, Raskin, JS, Chang, EF, Shaikhouni, A, Brunner, P, Roland, JL, Braga, RM, Knight, RT, Ofen, N, Johnson, EL. The development of aperiodic neural activity in the human brain. Nature Human Behaviour (2025). DOI
- Shi, L, Chattopadhyay, K, Gray, SM, Yarbrough, JB, King-Stephens, D, Saez, I, Girgis, F, Shaikhouni, A, Schuele, SU, Rosenow, JM, Asano, E, Knight, RT, Johnson, EL. Distributed theta networks support the control of working memory: Evidence from scalp and intracranial EEG. bioRxiv (2025). DOI
- Yarbrough, JB, Shi, L, Chattopadhyay, K, Knight, RT, Johnson, EL. One of these things is not like the others: Theta, beta, and ERP dynamics of mismatch detection. bioRxiv (2025). DOI
Publications and other papers using this paradigm should cite the publications above.
Software:
- MATLAB 8.6 (R2015b; last tested with R2021a)
- Psychtoolbox v.3.0.14 - download
Peripheral hardware:
- Mouse
- Photodiode sensor attached to the lower left of the screen. For a step-by-step guide to build a photodiode, see photodiode_how_to in the pipeline for iEEG data curation repo.
Output data are saved to a text file with one row per trial, as follows:
- Trial number
- Block number
- Trial type (1-8: 1, 2 = match; 3, 4 = mismatch identity; 5, 6 = mismatch spatial; 7, 8 = mismatch temporal; 1, 3, 5, 7 include star; 2, 4, 6, 8 no star)
- Response accuracy (0/1)
- Response type (1-5; 1 = hit, 2 = miss, 3 = correct rejection, 4 = false alarm, 5 = unsure)
- Response continuous distance
- Response time (ms)
- Star onset time relative to delay onset time (ms)
- Inter-trial interval time
- Stimulus swap spots (1, 2, 3)
- Trial onset time (ms)
- Response onset time (ms)
Output data are summarized by block in a separate text file.